The Freedom I Seek
It’s not easy being a Human who struggles with addiction. My addictions were something I thought I had control over. This couldn’t have been further from the truth. In early August 2020, I was able to recognize another dysfunctional pattern of my addiction to alcohol as I was about to lose another relationship. I chose […]
What Recovery Is Like For Me
Whenever I would hear the word “Recovery” I always just thought of it as recovering from a surgery, an injury, being sick, in the recovery stage of cancer, I knew of addiction in recovery but I would always say that would never be me. Until alcohol had taken over my life and I could not […]
Got Your Six
My faith in a program of recovery was put to the test. I was on a 9 hour mission to pick up a fellow addict and bring him into treatment. It started well, picked him up from his home north of Houston and made my way to Austin. Half way there my tire exploded and […]
Recovery Journey: Fitness
07SEP24 My recovery journey: Fitness When I was in the Army, I took my job seriously and I observed and learned from whom I considered to be the better leaders I had access to. One of them probably counseled me in writing on their expectations that I maintain my health; physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. […]
Whatever it Takes
WHATEVER IT TAKES January 20, 2023, I lay in an ICU of Bangkok Hospital, Phuket. I was physically, mentally, and spiritually broken. The co-founder of the Residential Treatment Center I was admitted to for the third time asked me by my bedside: “What are you willing to do to stay sober? I want you to […]
What Recovery Means to Me
I came into recovery the first time in August of 2021. I didn’t do it for me, I did it to try and save a relationship. I relapsed within weeks of discharge due to a very disturbing domestic call involving 3 deaths and lost the relationship. But I also wasn’t working a program either. So […]
Trust and Time
In active addiction, I lost everything for one thing. In sober recovery, I have everything for losing one thing. I didn’t make that statement, but it resonates with me. Trust and time are the most precious commodities. I lost over a decade in addictive addiction and the trust of everyone I loved and held dear. […]
One is missing from my formation
26 July 2024 One year ago today I received the news that one of my former non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and someone who had become a friend had taken his own life on 21 July 2023. His name is Damian. I had signed his retirement papers several years ago and he was living his post-Army dream. […]
A Live Fire Exercise
09 July 2024 I took a job as a prep cook while staying in sober living because I needed something to do and could use the extra money to pay off some of my debt. I found myself at about 10:00 A.M. on my first day on the job doing a menial task in the […]
What Step 3 means to me
“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” As the Big Book and the 12 and 12 state, step 3 is all about action and willingness – daily. I ask myself, am I not a man of action? Have I not proved it […]