Personal Stories

I am 63 years old (as of 2025) and have been in recovery since 9 Dec 2017. I first started drinking at the age of four. Yes four, I was my parents' bartender until the age of 13. I made (and tasted) all sorts of mixed drinks. However, my drinking ... read more

I am 63 years old (as of 2025) and have been in recovery since 9 Dec 2017. I first started drinking at the age of four. Yes four, I was my parents' bartender until the age of 13. I made (and tasted) all sorts of mixed drinks. However, my drinking didn't get out of control until I moved to Germany in 1984. I quickly progressed to needing to drink first thing in the morning just to function.

I realized I had a problem, so I tried to control my drinking by all kinds of techniques. I tried stopping (for a while) that didn't work!! I tried drinking just beer, then just wine, then just brown liquor, then just clear liquor but I could never actually control my drinking. The few times I did control it I certainly didn't enjoy it! I ended up divorced twice and eventually looking at losing everything.

Due to a DUI and an incident where I could have burned my house down, I realized I could not control my drinking by myself. I went to a meeting of a 12-step program to get help manage my drinking. The women there gave me a Big Book and suggested I read the first 164 pages, don't drink between meetings and come back to the next meeting! I was desperate, so I took their suggestions to heart. I found a woman to guide me through the book and the 12 steps.

I am very happy to report that the program worked very well for me!! I have never been so happy, joyous, and free! And all while being completely alcohol free! I go where I want and do what I want to do as long as I remain spiritually fit and keep in mind what I would lose if I drank again...EVERYTHING. It's just not worth it. I am not saying my life is perfect, LIFE will still happen, I just have a way to live my life and deal with things sober.

I hope if you are finding yourself in addiction and your life falling apart that you will GET HELP! There is LIFE after addiction.

Posted by Anonymous

I was just a small-town girl, living day to day with the same people, same places, same routine. I craved something different. I don’t even remember the day I started using, but I remember the day I stopped.

I started using cocaine when I was ... read more

I was just a small-town girl, living day to day with the same people, same places, same routine. I craved something different. I don’t even remember the day I started using, but I remember the day I stopped.

I started using cocaine when I was 16. The cute manager, at my first job, was my dealer. I didn’t have to work, my parents provided everything…except I needed cash to get high.

A year and a half later, I was living the life. Work and school were passing by and my future was just another high away

I don’t remember sleeping. I don’t remember eating. I partied with my friends, kept my job and lied to everyone.

I turned 20 and woke up half way through a low water crossing, with my driver’s side door open and white vomit everywhere. To this day, I can’t recall what I was doing that night, but the vomit was dry. I was passed out in my car for hours, and nobody knew.

I was scared. I went back to my dealer, who had now become my friend, and told him what happened. His advice…was to start using heroin. Oh, how I thought he was looking out for me!

I used heroin one time, and one time only. I knew this was too much. I knew just another hit was going to be the end of me. After I came down from that high, I contacted my good friend, who was very involved with my church and came clean. Literally. I went through detox. Went to AA. Reconnect with my family. Through it all, I could almost see the old ME.

19 Years later….clean and happy. My 18-year-old son and husband helped tremendously. My God helped more.

I had no reason to ever get high, and only one reason to get clean. I chose life. This life that I have now is something I will cherish forever.

I still think of that night, waking up in ditch, dried vomit on my face. If I could help one person, never feel that alone and scared….I’ll do whatever I can.

This is my story.

Posted by Anonymous

My mother was a dealer of many drugs to many people. It kept the bills paid and gave me nice clothes growing up.

I started using at 13, selling at 15 and was arrested at 17. I would spend the next 15 years in and out of jail and living on the ... read more

My mother was a dealer of many drugs to many people. It kept the bills paid and gave me nice clothes growing up.

I started using at 13, selling at 15 and was arrested at 17. I would spend the next 15 years in and out of jail and living on the streets. Staying high was the only way to escape and being high was the only thing I needed to escape from. I did every drug I could get my hands on and did unthinkable things to get the money to pay for those drugs. I exhausted every family member’s spare room or couch, broke all trust from anybody that ever cared about me and submitted to a life of misery. I was high more years than I was sober.

In August of 1996 I was pronounced dead in the emergency room of a small hospital in west Texas. By the grace of God, I was revived and transported to an impatient treatment facility. The next 3 years of my life would be a living nightmare, one that paled in comparison to any night on the street.

In treatment, I worked the 12 step program, was sponsored, went to therapy, got professional help for my mental disorder, and most importantly, I found God. Through the years, my path would lead me down an amazing journey of recovery and spiritual knowledge. I got my GED and a scholarship to seminary school. I am now a Pastor to a large congregation in Austin Texas. My recovery is what keeps me grounded every single day. I still work the steps, I still have a sponsor and I still want to tell my story to those struggling. There is hope.

Posted by Anonymous

I’m an addict. I’m sixty-one years old. Pharmaceuticals were my drugs of choice.

I had just graduated from high school when my addiction began, and I lived in active addiction for more than a decade. I know firsthand that addiction is ... read more

I’m an addict. I’m sixty-one years old. Pharmaceuticals were my drugs of choice.

I had just graduated from high school when my addiction began, and I lived in active addiction for more than a decade. I know firsthand that addiction is personal; it is a different experience for everybody. For me, it all began with cramps when my mother offered me prescription pain medication – once. Of course, my mom had no idea it would be the launching point in to addiction.

For those who haven’t ever experienced it – I didn’t have the childhood you might expect for an addict. The simple truth is that addicts come from all backgrounds. I had a great childhood. It was what anyone could call “normal.” I grew up in a small farming community, was very close to my mother, loved my family, rode horses, and roller-skated. There were no warning signs that I could become an addict at first taste.

After that first, single dose of my mother’s pain medication in 1970, I consistently wanted to feel that way again. By the time my mother realized what was going on, pharmaceuticals had become the answer to everything – every little pain, every emotion. Somehow, it let me hide and it let me have a release all at the same time.

I discovered that doctors rarely communicated with one another and pharmacies never crosschecked prescriptions with other pharmacies. I would travel as far as I needed to when my pills were getting low. One evening, while traveling with my mother, I took a small handful of pills from my mother’s luggage to help me sleep. What I didn’t realize was that I had just taken six or seven Dalmane, a pharmaceutical for sleep. It was a lethal dose. When I hit the floor, my mom heard; she found me unconscious.

My heart stopped several times during that night. The ICU doctors were able to bring me back. In all accounts, I should not have survived the night. At one point, my mother lay on the chapel floor in the hospital and begged God to take her instead of me, and for the rest of her life, she insisted that it was that moment that God decided to spare me.

I attempted rehab after my overdose, but checked myself out after two days. I really wasn’t interested in treatment, and I returned to my parent’s basement in a drug-induced haze. When the pharmaceuticals stopped having an effect because of my tolerance, I began to consider harder street drugs, but I didn’t know how to get them, especially in my small town.

My addiction continued until February 1981, when I entered residential treatment. That is when I finally came into contact with recovering people.

I have worked as a therapist in residential facilities, seen miracles happen in treatment and in 12-step communities, and introduced countless addicts to programs that could address their unique addictions. Throughout all of my experiences, I have learned one simple truth: The road to recovery is long, but it doesn’t have to be traveled alone. Your journey is unique, but there are people who do understand.

Posted by Anonymous

My addiction started later in life. After college, after marriage, after kids.

I was a mother of 4 and had everything I ever wanted. I started using to help me stay focused and have some extra energy. One bad friend lead to a 13 year meth ... read more

My addiction started later in life. After college, after marriage, after kids.

I was a mother of 4 and had everything I ever wanted. I started using to help me stay focused and have some extra energy. One bad friend lead to a 13 year meth addiction.

I was in detox and treatments 6 times, before something clicked. My story is not the norm, but something of a miracle. When my daughter started using at the age of 14, I had a wake up call. I had a chose to either get clean and help my daughter or get high with her. I was in an inpatient treatment ward for almost 6 months. I lived and breathed recovery only for my daughter.

She celebrated her 4 year anniversary less than a year ago, and I’m celebrating 3 months sober. I was doing it for her, and it never worked. I was off the wagon longer than I was sober. I had to do it for me, and nobody else, no matter how much that person meant to me. The struggle is real, and I suffered ever day.

I am now 7 years clean and sober, and by daughter hasn’t used in 14 years. I struggle every day to fight the demons I put her and myself through. Going through this journey with a sponsor and living the 12-step AA program is what keeps me going. It keeps me alive. I still go to meetings ever week and have sponsored many along the way. Telling my story is a way for me to keep it real, and maybe….just maybe someone will find hope in my desperate world.

Posted by Anonymous