I too am a drug addict and alcoholic in recovery.

When I was seventeen I was sent to a hospital. I would ultimately spend nine months in treatment.

I went to AA, NA was not very robust at the time and a substance is a substance.

I stayed sober for thirty two years. The Gods saw fit to give me the American dream. I married the love of my life, we have four beautiful children and we became millionaires. At age forty six I made a tragic mistake. I started feeding my ego.

Four years later at age fifty I started doing drugs and drinking again. In six months, my wife left me and took the children, I lost the family fortune and ended up in prison. I deserved all of the suffering I received, I knew better!

I am now clean and sober for another ten years, forty two years of total sobriety out of my sixty years.
Six months was all it took to destroy everything and hurt the people I love the most.

Here are, in no particular order are some of the lessons I have learned.

My substance abuse developed from a desire to escape the pain of feeling my feelings.
I needed lots of therapy to deal with the trauma that lead to my need to escape from my feelings.
There is no force stronger than love. The members of AA/NA loved me when I could not love myself.
If I abuse myself (poor nutrition, no movement, inadequate sleep) it won't be long before I am abusing substances.
The love I feel for others can sustain me during the times I can not sustain myself.

I do not know how old you are. I am a broken sixty year old man. I have seen extra-ordinary heights and extra-ordinary lows. I know only one thing for sure. When the light of love fills my soul there is no room for the darkness.

I do not know you, but I love you. Keep reaching out, I bet others will too. Thank you for being here today.

I hope you find the peace you deserve.