Stories
Across the country, people in recovery are celebrating their successes and sharing them with others in an effort to educate the public about treatment, how it works, for whom, and why. Because these successes often go unnoticed by the broader population, Voices for Recovery provides a vehicle for people to share their recovery stories.
View previous years:
2009
To date,
21
voices were posted for Recovery Month
Even though living in a wheelchair is very difficult, I can honestly say that I very much prefer my life the way it is now – without drugs and knowing that I can do things to help others.
Because of my recovery, today I now enjoy spending time with my wife and kids, golfing, jogging, and working as a certified alcohol drug counselor.
I have so much to be grateful for, beginning with the late great Gert Behanna, a woman who published her own recovery story under a pseudonym “Liz Burns.” Her story made it possible for me to admit that I was hopelessly addicted to alcohol, and that a sober life could be a beautiful and rewarding adventure.
Twelve years later, my life is amazingly full and happy, with a loving relationship, a successful career, and an acoustic duo called Broadband. I continue to stay involved in a recovery program, and believe that we need to make recovery visible, so that it is accessible to all who need and desire it. And I feel like I am finally becoming the person that I originally set out to be.
Opportunities for recovery should exist for each and every person.
I have experienced many “highs” in my recovery, including graduation, my children getting married, purchasing a home, and witnessing the birth of grandchildren. I also had the honor of being a delegate from Louisiana at the 2009 Recovery Rally. There isn’t much that surprises me, because I have learned that recovery is an ongoing process and, while challenging, is an opportunity waiting to happen.
The tired old adage “Once an addict, always an addict” is simply not true, and I am proof of that. I believe that an addict, any addict, can lose the desire to use and find a new way to live.
The life I live today is only because of my commitment to recovery and my belief in the power of the 12 steps.
I am involved in the community and take the responsibility to relay the message of recovery to individuals suffering from substance use disorders very seriously. I am a homeowner, have traveled, and have done many other things that I couldn’t have done if I wasn’t in recovery. However, the most important gifts to me are the internal ones: my self esteem, self worth, integrity, self respect, and acceptance of self. This was unimaginable in my “other life.”
Since I found recovery in 1986, I have been motivated by a strong desire to give back what I had received.
After my wife and children, preserving the gift of recovery for those who continue to struggle is the number one priority in my life. I am lucky that I’ve been able to give back since I first found a path to recovery after being paroled from prison in 1972.
Recovery has given my life great purpose and value – something I sought but never found with drugs. I’m so proud of where I am today. Five years ago, my husband and I founded a recovery community organization in our hometown: the McShin Foundation in Richmond, VA. This helps us share the gift of recovery with others, while sustaining our own. This is how recovery works – you have to give it away to keep it.
"It is the last thing I see when I am leaving for work in the mornings and first thing I see when I come home. It reminds me every day that I am a special person, that I am going to get hurt, and I am going to heal."
I only hope I can give someone else hope in the fact that if they don't want to live the way they have been living, they don't have to.
Recovery is contagious! Catch it.
I’m happy to say that I am clean and sober for more than eleven years. I have a wonderful, understanding wife and a job that had to have come from the Man up stairs with my name on it, helping others just like me that took the wrong road.
I made a promise to myself to NEVER ever pick up a bottle again, and I have stuck to my promise.
The life I now have is remarkable and my married life is the same. I only wish that I would have done it years ago. But, I was not ready on my own to surrender. You have to want it so bad that you will do anything to have your Sobriety back into your life. So glad I did.
Recovery works when you want it to work.
I cannot allow my past to control my life, but only be a part of who I am today. I counsel for the prevention of AIDS and substance abuse and advocate. I was told my life would get better and it has. My choices today are based on good consciousness. I have been in recovery for several years and have just begun to live my life.
"Here's my story, to give God glory, for what He has done!"
Felicia Jimenez shares her recovery story.