Memoir

I started life as most people do; being born. I’m guessing that I began doing normal baby things. I don’t remember much in the way of “normal” fun growing up. My fun consisted mostly of watching my mother and step father get drunk and throw parties that usually ended with the police showing up to shut it down or carry someone off to jail.

When I was about thirteen or fourteen, I began to attend my own parties, and I started experimenting with drugs. As time progressed, I started doing more mischievous things. One day I got arrested and I got what is known as “a police record.” Some kids probably would have tried to change after that but not me. I actually got a thrill from getting into trouble, and so I kept doing it. Looking back on it today, I see a kid who was crying out for help. Unfortunately no help came, and so this became the “norm” in my life for about ten more years.

On September 10, 2011 at 10:30pm, I was pulled over in VA Beach, VA for traveling 30 miles per hour over the posted speed limit and arrested for my second DUI. I finally woke up at the age of thirty-one, fully understanding I could not keep doing this. Upon my release from jail, I went out and sought help from a group of people like myself that were in recovery. These people have continued to show me a new way to live.

            Having gone through different situations in my life, I feel they have given me the opportunity to develop some of my strengths in order to be more beneficial with regards to helping another person who might be going through the same struggles. I tend to approach life events with a more honest and open-minded outlook. I believe that in order to help I must earn trust, and in order to gain trust, I have to be honest and share my own experience, strength, and hope. Today, I remain open-minded by not judging the person but instead I try to relate to the person’s struggles.

I continue to work hard on improving both my strengths and my weaknesses because I want to be able to make a positive difference in the lives of other people and myself. The problems affecting people develop and change every day. In order to be an effective member of the recovery community, I must remain open-minded and willing to improve and change myself each and every day in order to meet those needs.

Sitting in the back seat of that police car, I knew something had to change. Four days in a jail cell allowed me the opportunity to see it was me. Because of that change, I have made a decision to start an online blog in hopes of continuing to help myself and others grow in sobriety. I hope to help another person find their opportunity to change.