As I sat down to write this blog today, I happened to look over at the post counter and noticed that I now have written 2700 blogs since 2010.
I can actually remember where I was when I wrote the first one. I was on vacation in Mission Bay, California on the third floor of a condominium we'd rented for a weeklong getaway. I don't know why I started there. But I think it was because I had been promising myself for a long time that I would publish a blog and at that moment I had plenty of time to write.
The only promise I made to myself at that time was to keep the subject matter on recovery and things related to recovery. I didn't want to get into politics. I didn't want to write about business. Just mainly about recovery, because that's what this website is about after all.
I did have a secondary motive. And that was to improve my writing skills. I didn't want to improve my vocabulary because I'm fairly pleased with it after all the years I spent locked in cages reading and writing and studying. But I did want to improve the aspect of my writing whereby I could communicate with the reader on a conversational level. After all, it's one thing to have a good vocabulary – but the more important thing is to communicate your ideas and thoughts with the reader.
Over the years I've developed a lot of long-distance relationships with mothers and fathers whose children or family members have been at TLC. Reading this blog has been a way for them to connect with their loved ones even though they're far away.
There are a few families that I actually feel quite close to because every once in a while they update me on the success – or lack of success – of their loved ones who have been through our program. And when I develop these kinds of relationships solely through the written word I feel like I've accomplished my goal of effective communication.
Those of us who have gone through the hell of long-term addiction and years on the streets and in institutions have, I believe, a moral obligation to give back to society. Perhaps help someone else avoid taking the path that we did.
This blog is part of my effort to achieve this.
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