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Trudging the Road to Happy Destiny: My Journey of Recovery



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Trudging the Road to Happy Destiny: My Journey of Recovery

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Old 01-02-2009, 01:33 AM
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Tryin2Recover,

Hey... I just read your thread from the beginning to end.. I can't even begin to express how dead on many of your actions and emotion remind me of myself at the beginning of your thread that I am feeling right now. Feeling alone is a big one for me. I just figured I'd post on your thread since you took the time out to set me straight on mine!

Your ongoing progress is awesomely inspiring for me. You are a few years older than me, but I can imagine going through the things you've gone through (like the decision of visiting the last of your buddies in college). I'm about at that point too, because I have been out of school for 2 years and most of my friends have no more than a year before they are graduating college.

I'm going to my first meeting today, and I'm *unofficially* seven days clean (read my last post in my thread). I feel a little nervous about it and wonder if I won't chicken out at the last second. I think knowing people like you exists that I can so closely relate to, that have been successful will probably push me through those last doubts about attending the meeting today. Thank you.

I was wondering if maybe we could chat sometime on MSN or w/e. I won't be offended if you don't want to and I certainly understand. I just really relate to you and thought it'd be conducive to my attempt at sobriety to be able to talk someone who knows about H and all that, one on one.

Either way, thanks for your story and I'll be hopefully seeing you around the forums if I can stay on the right path. Wish me luck, and here's me wishing for yours.

Bryan
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Old 01-14-2009, 09:21 PM
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Hey guys just checkin in. Last saturday I celebrated 9 months of sobriety!!! Most things are going great in my life right now. Friday will be my 25th birthday...I just picked up my first sponsee too the other day, and am taking him through the steps. I cant even begin to express how awesome it feels to help someone in terms of sponsorship. Taking all this unique experience I have and sharing it in hopes of helping someone else is really a gift of recovery.

Other than that I have been a little concerned about something else in my life. The job Ive had now for the last year, Im coming up on the end of my contract and am not sure if they will ask me to renew my commitment with them. It is a little unnerving knowing I might be jobless here in a bit, especially with how bad the economy and all is. But I do know in the end I will be ok, as long as I rely on my higher power everything I need will fall into place. Anyways thats all I got for now, peace love respect!
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Old 01-14-2009, 10:26 PM
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Congrats on 9 months Pete my man. Keep on doing what you're doing ... staying clean, working the program, being of service ... you know the drill.

Trust me ... everything's gonna work out exactly how it's supposed to
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Old 01-15-2009, 03:52 AM
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Hey Tryin! Thank you for posting and updating us throughout the last year. Your story is very inspiring. My ex sounds a lot like where you used to be. He is clean now but no meetings or anything and depressed a lot. I fear that if he doesn't get into some kind of program then it is only a matter of time before he goes 'back out there'.
I know losing a job right now is hard.....I'm there. I was at my job almost six years and I was so good at it. I lost it Monday. But somehow, I know I will be okay. I'm very strong now. His addiction brought me to my knees. I literally lost everything except for my life and I was very close to losing that. I ended up becoming a coke addict. But I'm clean now.....34 days to be exact. I didn't use for long but used almost daily and high doses.
But.....I'm doing good. I stopped living in the past and dwelling on what I'd done and started moving forward and taking care of myself. I left my addict boyfriend which was very hard because I love him so much but it spiraled so far out of control and I needed to get myself back.
We still talk but I have set boundaries with him. He knows that if he wants to be part of my life......clean and healthy is the only way.
I'm so proud of how far you've come. You are truly a walking miracle. You know how hard it is to come of drugs and what the success rate is...you should be so proud of yourself.
It feels so good when you get to that place of loving yourself, doesn't it? I'm sitting here with no job, no money, no home of my own and I still feel good. It's easy to give in and let things get you way down which is how I've always done it but that doesn't get me anywhere.
I live for me now. I live to be clean from ALL substances and to be healthy.
Thank you for sharing your posts and please keep coming back to update us. Your words help us so much....seeing somene succeed is very uplifting!

hug
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Old 01-17-2009, 03:11 PM
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Ughh...I ****** up bad. I didnt use but I almost feel like I did. Last night was my birthday and I had a good day. Went to work, to a meeting, out to eat with some friends. Then after that me and some other friends decided to go to a casino. And I ended up staying at a casino all night until 9am and gambled away a lot of money. Like 1000 bucks. Its not the money that is making me feel like I do, it was my actions and thoughts. I completely obssesively and compulsively lost the power of choice, just like can happen to me with drugs. It was my addiction manifesting itself in a totally new way and I was acting just like the sneaking addict I used to act like. Principles went out the window for me. And then this morning I was supposed to go to an AA convention with a friend and my sponsor but I completely blew it off. Didnt call him, and just slept all day. This is honestly the worst I have felt spiritually since I relapsed. I feel horrible, like I have zero accountability, like I have let the world down. I want to crawl into a hole and detach from the world, but I know that would lead to much more disasterous consequences. So instead I will go to a meeting and talk about how I feel. And pray, and pray.
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Old 01-28-2009, 05:36 PM
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Hi yall been a while, time for an update. So I recovered from me being a moron that I posted about in my last post. It was a mistake, but one that I will learn from. The miracle of it all is I didnt have to use over it. I am learning one day at a time to take the good with the bad. To live life on lifes terms, as it comes to me, without having to run, escape, hide, or lie. And that really is a miracle. Thats all I have for now.

PS God is Love!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 02-05-2009, 09:04 PM
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So today I FINALLY made the amends to my dad that I have been putting off for about 4 months...I asked him to come out to dinner with me since I figure if I put myself on the spot like that I will be less likely to chicken out in saying what needs to be said, like I had in the past. One of my fears (and defects of character) is admitting im wrong, and apologizing and making things right. So this was something that needless to say needed to be done, and I put it off for way too long. It was beginning to burden me, just thinking about how i have been putting it off.

So anyways it went well. I told him that I never really apologized for the **** I did, lying, stealing, lack of gratitude etc. And he didnt really catch the point, he brought up things from like 15 + years ago that he still felt bad about. Then I switched gears and got more specific. I told him about the one situation that stood out in my head most of my wrong doings towards him. That was when my brothers addict friend was staying at our house, who happened to know my family very good. And my dad knew he was having drug problems and didnt trust the kid, so my dad counted his money. And I stole 20 bucks from my dad that night, and my dad accused this kid and confronted him. Me, being an addict, went and hid the 20 bucks under some junk by my dads money, and my dad found it later and felt all guilty and what not for accusing the kid. And when I told my dad that his face went pale, and he just said 'Wow.' It was only then I think that he even had a minor glimpse of the severity of my problem. He asked if I felt guilty at the time and I said I didnt care about the kid, or my dad period. Thats how sick I was. And I didnt. I asked him if there was anything I could do to make right my past mistakes and he told me to keep doing what Im doing now, because he can see the changes in me. I told him how grateful I was for everything him and my mom have done for me and he started tearing up and so did I. It was really emotional, wonderful, and liberating. Just a little bit more freedom, as my friend so simply yet gracefully put it.
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Old 02-10-2009, 06:13 PM
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Today I celebrate 10 months with no drugs or booze!~!~!!1 I was at a meeting today and the lead was on progress not perfection. And it made me reflect on my progress. This week was my 1 year anniversary at my job, which for me holding a real job that long is in of itself a miracle. I got a raise also! I care about others, and more importantly myself. And I love life, and trust my higher power. Which is huge progress given the fact that 10 months ago I didnt even care if I lived or died. My life may not always be peachy in sobriety, but I am learning to handle what life throws at me, take the good with the bad, and live life on lifes terms WITHOUT GETING HIGH! And that is truly a miracle.
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Old 03-12-2009, 08:01 PM
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Wow this slipped all the way to page 9...Slacker! Guess thats what happens when I dont post for over a month.

ANYWAYS....Tuesday I celebrated 11 months of complete sobriety!!!! Wow what a miracle. I dont wake up and instantly think of how I can get one more, I wake up now excited to live and explore what the day has in store for me, I truly am blessed.

So there have been a few pretty big things going on in my life recently. For starters, I am now in my very first ever sober relationship!!! Its a little scary, because Im learning all these emotions and other aspects of 'healthy' dating that I have always previously neglected. But she is a great person and we get along really well. She is a 'normy', i know normies hate that word but what I mean is she isnt in AA. She doesnt do any drugs and doesnt drink much, which makes it ok for me to continue on. I just have to remember to practice the principles of the 12 steps in ALL MY AFFAIRS, including my relationships, and try not to slip into old codie type relationships. But all in all I am happy when Im with her, and she knows everything about me, and understands and respects that my sobriety will ALWAYS come first.

What else is new...I have been tossing around the idea of getting my own place, I have lived with my parents for almost 2 years now since graduating college. I might hold off a while longer on this, but I think it would help me become more responsible. We'll see.

Other than that, just been doing the next right thing, meetings still almost everyday. Oh yea I have a new sponsee...Its a little funny he is one of my childhood best friends. He moved out to colorado a few years back and I was sitting at a meeting a few weeks ago and he pops in, it blew me away. He is still struggling to let go of the pot, just like I did. I am hopeful that if I can help plant the seed of recovery in his mind that he too might be able to figure things out. But thats up to him and his HP, all I can do is extend the hand of AA, so to speak, and tell him about my own experiences of coming into recovery and continuing onwards.

I'm just so grateful today, and most days these days. Grateful at this second shot at life, to have a job, to have friends who actually mean something to me and care about me, to be healthy, to have a loving family, and a connection with my own higher power who I dont understand, yet have complete faith in. Love you all and thanks for helping me get and stay sober.
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Old 03-15-2009, 03:14 PM
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So a guy I respect a great deal in AA his son who was also struggling with addiction killed himself last night. It's horrible how many people I know personally who die from this disease. I lost 5 friends atleast since highschool all to addiction, and countless more since coming into recovery. Death is such a normal result of addiction that I have almost become numb to it. Its almost expected. Who is next? There will always be another lost who didnt make it, thats pretty much a guarantee in my world. But alas that is the nature of this disease, one final, ultimate, and permanent rock bottom that most of us attempting recovery try to avert at all costs. This disease pushes us all closer to where it wants us, dead. And recovery is, at least for me, the only solution to escape where my addiction wants me to be, dead.

God bless you all dont give up, the miracles of recovery are so much greater a reward then anything our addictions would have for us.
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Old 03-29-2009, 10:37 PM
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Hai guise!~ I bought a car yesterday and it is so sexy. Got an 08 Altima coupe I love love love it. Just another side effect of the next right thing...I wouldnt even have a real job if i wasnt sober, and I owe everything I have today to the 12 steps, my HP, and many many people on these boards who showed me the right path in my darkest hours. My 1 year anniversary is closing in on me fast, April 10th, less than 2 weeks away. Its a miracle, before I surrendered and found recovery I couldnt make it 24 hours. Love love love u all!
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Old 03-29-2009, 11:12 PM
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Very cool !!!!
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Old 04-01-2009, 09:00 PM
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Hey guys just letting you know I had the title of this thread changed, same thread just a new name! Love u all!@
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Old 04-09-2009, 09:00 PM
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Hello friends. In a couple of hours I will be celebrating a year of complete and continuous sobriety!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I sit here on the eve of this milestone and reflect back over the last year. The good, the bad, the meh. It has been quite a journey and such a gift. So many experiences remembered, such amazing people who have come into my life. It's strange to think that only a year ago from now I was curled up in a ball, wishing I was dead, detoxing from heroin. I remember the feeling deep down inside of having no hope. "Knowing" I was doomed for, donezo, toast...And not really caring. If I think about it hard enough I can still taste the despair, the bitter loneliness that enrobed my life like a dark cloud of toxic fumes. I was beaten, defeated. I had failed to win the battle against my addiction, and was at my end. Just as it says in the book I could no longer imagine life with or without it, and I was at the jumping off point. And I closed my eyes, had faith for the first time in my life, and jumped. I reached out for whoever would grab and there I found you people, my fellow alcoholics and addicts. And I found hope. I learned I wasnt alone anymore. I learned to accept the failure of this battle I could NEVER win, and surrendered.

So many wonderful and miraculous promises have come true for me in this short period of my life. I am so grateful to have been given this experience, recovery, a second chance to live in one lifetime. It really truly is a miracle, as strange as it my be for me to admit considering I didnt even believe in miracles before I found recovery. From not being able to put more than a day or two together without any drugs or booze, to having a year long daily reprieve and actually being happy, joyous and free during most of it. This past year has been the greatest time in my life, and the best part is I remember it. Its not some glorified figment of my reality pieced together by a few brief moments of clarity like my college days. It's real. All of it. Recovery is my reality today. And I owe it all to you people, my fellows who understand me. To the 12 steps. And to my higher power. Thank you all for putting up with me until I too could be a part of the miracle you told me about. You guys are everything to me!
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Old 04-10-2009, 02:44 PM
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Tryn2Recover,

Hi, I'm a recovering opiate/cocaine addict, with 6 months. I've read through your posts and they really touched me. Especially the one where you make amends w/your mom. What I would give to be able to do that with my mom. She knew about my addiction and worried about me so much. I put her through hell with worry. She even help me get a '08 Altima coupe....red and yes, real sexy! Well, she wanted me to get help last May, and I agreed to. She made arrangements for me to go to rehab on May 16, which was her birthday. She passed away on May 14, two day before I was to leave. She'd laid down to take a nap, and never woke up. I was the one who found her and to this day, I feel that I basically worried her to death. I miss her so much, she was my best friend.
I didn't go to rehab then. Instead, I spiraled into my addiction to the point of total self destruction. I trashed that beautiful car, and then totaled it out.
Finally, I woke up one morning, September 25,'08, and made the call that saved my life. I checked into rehab that afternoon.
My only regret is that I can't make amends to the one I hurt the most...My mom. She died knowing her daughter was a drug addict. That's so hard for me to live with.

So be grateful that you were able to make amends to your mom. I'd give anything to have just one more day with my mom...today, the way I am now, so I could say to her "Mom, look at me now".

Congratulations on your year! You are truly an inspiration, and have a lot to be proud of and a lot to offer others with your story.

Peace and love,

Penny
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Old 04-10-2009, 03:13 PM
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T 2 R,

Congratulations on your one year.

Keep up the good work.

Ivan
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Old 04-11-2009, 02:53 PM
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Hi guys! Change4penny...I cried when i read what u wrote about your mother. I empathize for you, but just because she is gone does not mean you cant amend your ways. You can make a lifelong commitment, a living amends to continually strive for the next right thing. I realize that is hardly a consolation given she is physically gone, but I'm sure if she could see you now she would be proud, and you can channel those emotions and that responsibility to her to stay on the good path.

Anyways last night was awesome. It was my 1 year anniversary and I gave a lead at my homegroup. I was touched by the responses heard in breakout, particularly from two newcomers. I talked about how the real gift of recovery is being able to carry the message to those who are in the same shoes I walked in not too long ago. To show them there is hope, a solution, if they want it. And these two kids both talked about how I was in each of their first step meeting, and how I shattered their previously held beliefs about AA...How it was usually old smelly men in a church basement comparing war stories. They said I inspired them, that someone as young as me could find the help to recover from this deadly disease. And that right there was the miracle for me. To be able to help another struggling alcoholic or addict, to show them they arent alone, to tell them they dont EVER have to use again...That is like magic. I dont know why it is, all i know is how it makes me feel. It is truly one of the greatest gifts of recovery. Anyways hope yall have a wonderful easter/passover/weekend, peace love and respect.
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Old 04-11-2009, 04:34 PM
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Tryin, thanks so much for your kind words, and you're right. I know she's watching over me and is proud.
It's great to hear about your 1 year and you being an inspiration to those kids. I'm sure that made you feel good, to hear that you've had an impact on the way these kids view AA. That's awesome!
Heck, I don't know you, and you've inspired me!

Happy Easter to you, and congratulations on your 1 year. You made it!

Penny
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Old 04-11-2009, 04:45 PM
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Sending you warm thoughts on your first anniversary.
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Old 04-11-2009, 11:06 PM
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Congrats on your one-year birthday Pete!

I'm hella proud of you, man ...

Keep up the great work!
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