RECOVERY STORY OF THE MONTH!
Scott A.
Sobriety date: 12/31/2017
My name is Scott and I am an alcoholic. The first time I tried alcohol, at the age of 12, I was hooked. I wasn’t a daily drinker after I took my first drink, but it consumed my thoughts all day long for a long time. After I found alcohol, I didn’t put much effort into anything besides drinking. School, sports, family became an afterthought. I started having consequences early on, mainly trouble within my home and the law. I was always looking for a better way to get drunk or high, and I would try anything under the sun. At the age of 21, I was practically a daily drinker/drug user.
At the age of 21, I was practically a daily drinker/drug user.
Getting introduced to opiates at that point took me down a dark road very quickly where I lost basically everything in my life. I got into a detox and treatment center at 24 years old and stayed for about 6 months. I was introduced to a twelve-step program there but never really wanted to stay completely sober. After my first relapse, things started to get very bad for me. I suffered a stroke and renal failure in the same day. Jail and criminal charges became regular.
I was first introduced to the Ed Keating Center in 2014 through a friend. The Keating Center was a safe place for me with a good environment. I was encouraged to attend 12-step meetings every night as a halfway resident of the house my first three months there. Once I went back to work, “things” became more important to me than my sobriety. I was there for about 10 months my first time and relapsed again because I wasn’t doing what the program and the Keating Center suggested. That started my first trip of many into the place that helped save my life.
I always thought I could drink successfully one way or another.
I was in and out of the Keating Center the next several years because I wasn’t able to get honest with myself. I always thought I could drink successfully one way or another. It never worked and near-death experiences, jails, hurting family and friends were never enough to make me stop.
This last time at the Keating Center, I came in on December 31, 2017. Since that day I haven’t looked back. The Keating Center and a 12-step program gave me a place when I had nowhere else to go. I finally listened to what people were telling me over the past eight years. I became an actual member of a 12-step program where I went through the twelve steps that saved my life. While I was at the Ed Keating Center, I obtained a sponsor, a support group, and found a higher power. I began really working on myself. I moved out after being there for a little over a year.
I wake up every morning with a sense of excitement of what sobriety can bring.
Today I live on my own and still do all the things that I began doing at the Keating Center. I am able to sponsor and help out guys that were exactly in my situation which is a blessing. I am able to enjoy things in my life today. I wake up every morning with a sense of excitement of what sobriety can bring. It has been an absolute blessing in my life. I will never be able to repay what the 12-step program and the Keating Center has given me, but I will try to do my best on a daily basis. I am forever grateful.