Lately the question as to why I stay clean has come up a few times. Either non-recovering peers ask me or I have been faced with encouraging newer recovering addicts and alcoholics at my home group in Los Angeles to give this a chance. Recovery can be a pain in the neck. It’s a hard road to follow sometimes, especially being young. By now, my peers are having weekend parties, drinking at the beach, or having a drink after work. Sometimes I feel left out from what seems “normal,” but then I remember that I can’t drink like “normal” people. That drinking and using as a teen landed me in a lot of trouble and pain not to mention adolescent drug treatment. Now that I am clean and have stayed clean, I can help other teens that are in the same painful place that I used to be in.
Going to rehab in Los Angeles gave me the opportunity to reshape my life. It was aggravating at times- it was hard to let go of my old attitudes and behaviors and replace them with new things. The recovery process felt so foreign but as time has gone on, it feels like the right thing to do and I endure without question. Being around other recovering teens made recovery feel less bizarre and more like something we could all do together. As I stay in recovery now, long after drug treatment and random drug tests, I know I stay to help new teens that feel like I felt. I stay because in recovery, I have a choice in how I live my life as opposed to being a slave to the horrors of addiction. Beginning the recovery process can be the scariest step, but a lifetime of freedom lies beyond that, so contact us.
Originally posted on August 18, 2009 @ 7:56 am
