In honor of Alcohol Awareness Month I had asked my Friend “Sam I Am” to write his story; what he was like, what happened, and what he is like now. You see, once sober, Sam took to the act of service as so many of us do in recovery. Working in the Behavioral Health field I continually meet colleagues who share their story, their journey that brought them to sobriety, and a life being fulfilled by working in recovery.
I suppose it is the twelfth tradition that encourages us to act differently, to not be selfish, to give back. But mostly through experience we see that helping others is the only way we can truly help ourselves.
Falling Into Recovery
by “Sam I Am”
It takes desire and honesty along with willingness to succeed in recovery. I often say “in order to get sobriety, you have to want it.” Having been addicted myself, I have faced the fear and reached the end of a falling path that lead me to my death. After accepting the turmoil that I had caused in my life, and erasing the denial of what took me to a place that wasn’t me, I became honest and put acceptance into action. Yes I was ready to change my life!
In order to recover you have to have a desire to change your life and be willing to go to any length to stay on the straight and narrow path of sobriety. In case you’re wondering what my sickness was, it was alcohol. I never thought alcohol would take me to a place of not knowing how unmanageable my life could become; how people, things and self-reliance were fading away.
Question: how bad do you want your life to change, or how bad do you want to live? After experiencing my journey with alcohol and having had another chance to become the person I am now, I decided to work the Alcoholics Anonymous program and become a leader in recovery which eventually led me to recovery school. I became a Recovery Coach Specialist who deals with interventions. Working with people who are so confused and hurt, they want to, but don’t know how to get better.
The old saying goes “You can lead a horse to the water but you can’t make it drink” has a lot of truth to it. I try to share hope, faith, confidence, and love with those I work with. It’s up to them to believe that their lives can change if they try. My personal quote is “Nothing beats a failure, except a try, and as long as you keep trying you’ll never fail.”
The reward is, you find yourself stronger and better, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. Others see you loving yourself and they too begin to love you back; family, friends, and more. Find who you are and take back what you’ve lost. Fall into your recovery.
