Powerful story, Samse.
I think you have identified in yourself the key to self determination and empowerment that can carry you in many areas of life, not just fighting addiction.
When you think about it, there is a sort of high connected to self determination and empowerment, when you begin to realize that all your small successes build up to larger and larger ones. The key to not losing that is recognizing that life overall is a product of our perceptions, our world view is of our own creation. And both our successes and our failures are our responsibility.
I fled the church as a child to claim the world as my own after being warned too many times I would be stuck in Purgatory before burning in hell if I did not confess my sins and follow the teachings of the church.
You have a future in creative writing!