"Our goal should be to spread that love and share our stories to help others reach sobriety."
I want to begin my story offering hope, I am 1,568 days sober from heroin and 130 days sober from Suboxone. I am a recovering drug addict. I started using drugs for the same reasons many others do, as an attempt to escape the pain I was feeling. I was 14 when I started drinking and smoking, 16 when I started using pills, and about 22 when I tried heroin. I always had an imaginary moral line that I promised myself I would not cross. “I’ll never steal,” “I will never use heroin,” I’ll never use a needle,” and as we know that line was always crossed.
My daughter’s father had committed suicide in 2012, and that is when my addiction spiraled out of control. I remember the first time I shot up; a “friend” prepared a needle of heroin and stuck it in my vein. In a sickening way, he almost seemed relieved that someone else understood his suffering. I was in a fog; I lost years of my life due to drug addiction. I write this today that I am proud to say I am clean of all substances.
This is why I am sharing my story. Everyone’s journey through recovery is written differently. Whether it be meetings, rehab or MATs. In life, it is sometimes hard to agree with things that we have not experienced personally or that we do not understand. However, what is important is being able to look at other recovering addicts and say we made it. No matter if we did it differently, we made it. Our goal should be to spread that love and share our stories to help others reach sobriety. I always thought it was cliché when people said, “If I can do it so can you,” but it is the truth.
