Reflections: 10 Years Sober
Ten years ago today, I gave up alcohol, beginning my life in recovery. Some may see this as a righteous decision of sobriety; in which I steadfastly carried on working towards my goals. However, it was not always easy.
January 4, 2014, is the day my life changed forever. In some way, it is when my life began again.
After dealing with alcohol addiction for many years, I was checked into Erlanger with severe pancreatitis. It was my third visit to the hospital in eight months. During this visit, I was in bad shape. I think most of the people around me, family and friends, may have figured I was on the road my father had been that led him to see the same hospital where he would leave us due to the same addiction just 32 days before.
During my stay, a nurse, who remains unclear in my memory to this day served as a guardian angel who saved my life. Obviously having at some point rubbed her the wrong way during my stay, she began to berate me. She knew my family, (the Chattanooga Way it seems), and laid into me about what my actions were doing to my wife, my family, the legacy in this town which those who had come before me had built. To my knowledge, I don’t believe I ever saw her again, though she may have been the catalyst which finally pushed me to realize all the good I had in my life. The reasons I had to overcome and live.
Her reaction to me, and the eternal love of a few other wonderful women in my life, I turned the corner. The most of those women being my wife’s love and belief that I was better than what I had become. She is the real warrior in all of this.
A decade has since passed since that day which changed my life forever. Today, the same woman who stood beside me in my recovery, who I may constantly annoy, blessed our family with two boys who are the light of my life. Two boys who will have never and prayerfully will never see their father take a drink.
Your capacity to succeed in this life depends entirely on the life you build around yourself and the people you surround yourself with. Addiction is a plague that is indiscriminate of race, background, and circumstance, it is a mental opponent that one fights within their selves. For any and all who are battling addiction today, or those of you like me who live in recovery, hope is just around the corner and there are many in this community who are ready to help. You are loved. You can overcome the challenges you face.
Hard work is undefeated. We are so lucky in our area to have great organizations like CADAS, who I am proud to represent as a Board Member, that strive every day to make positive changes in the lives of folks going through the battles in their own mind. Sobriety looks different for everyone. If you need help finding your way, know you have a friend in me.
