Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Responsible for Me

My life began changing the moment I took responsibility for my addiction and decided to do something about it.

I remember that I was sitting at a bus stop January 13, 1991, looking at the path my life was on.  I was addicted to heroin and alcohol.  I was homeless.  I was having to steal every day to take care of myself and my drug habit.  All I had was the clothes I was wearing and less than a dollar in change.

I was having this conversation with myself, trying to decide what I was going to do.  I knew that if I chose to keep using, I'd either go back to jail, prison, the mental hospital, or maybe even the cemetery. A different choice I could make would be to go to a detox and get on a path to recovery, something I'd never done.

The only way I ever stopped using was if I'd gotten arrested and went through withdrawals on a jailhouse floor.  But my pattern was always the same:  as soon as I was released I'd immediately steal something to drink, then steal something else so I could buy some drugs.  That was my pattern, whether I was in jail for an hour or for several years.

Having never gotten sober or clean voluntarily, I opted to go to detox and get into recovery.  At that moment I became responsible.  And that's when everything changed for me.

Once we take responsibility for what happens to us things can become different.  Today they are.

Click here to email John




No comments:

Post a Comment