My addiction had left me homeless, mentally broken, abused and near death. I was afraid and confused. Lost and hopeless after 10 years of using meth. I couldn’t care for myself or be there for my two sons at all. Nothing else was important – just getting high.

I knew I wanted to get sober because I wanted to die every day while using this drug. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore. An overdose wasn’t the scary part; suicide was my reality to the end of this vicious turmoil that was my life.

I was arrested for a serious felony drug charge and sent to a treatment facility. When I began to feel my values coming back into perspective, to what I had been raised to know, my motivation and hope for my future began to take me to a life of happiness and hope that I’d never felt before.

You don’t get over an addiction by stopping using. You recover by creating a new life where it is easier to not use. If you don’t create a new life, then all of the factors that brought you to your addiction will catch up with you again.

While I was willing to do the work, I found organizations willing to invest in my progress and help me to gain responsibility and community connections, like EFR’s Access to Recovery (ATR) Program. Without such an intense two month inpatient treatment facility and transportation from ATR, I wouldn’t have made it this far.

I celebrated a year of sobriety this year and my moral compass is now facing the right direction. I am happy and continue to work hard and solve problems like a grown-up who knows how to function correctly. It’s very special and very real and very rewarding.

Life is worth living.