From North to South - Ohio to Florida Recovery Story

I was about 15 when I started drinking. I had older brothers, so beer was easy to get an early age. I smoked pot in high school and started getting poor grades. I managed to get good enough grades to get into a small college out of state in Ohio. I'm from Chicago. By the 2nd year, I was getting very homesick and depressed. A friend in college was into pain pills. I never tried them before but I liked them a lot. They did not make me drowsy or doped. I found myself more alert from it. The little money I had saved from home and working at a restaurant near my school was going more and more to these pills.

I tried to stick with just pot and drinking to save money but my friend would always have the pills I liked. Sometimes he would just toss me a few when I had no money. My addiction was full blown. Then one day, my friend got arrested. He was the only one helping me with my pills but also companionship.
I was more miserable than ever. I decided to just drop out and move back to Chicago.

My oldest brother took me in. He did not know how much I was drinking and doing drugs. I could not function without them. Before long,  I was sneaking into his room and stealing money. For a while he didn't realize it. I was careful at first but eventually, I would take more things and not just from him. My habit was way to rich for my means. So stealing was my only option. He suspected what I was doing and then finally knew. He kicked me out but let me back in a week later.

I was arrested a few months later for DUI, lost several jobs and kicked out of my brothers house. I was in and out of trouble for the next 3 years. Family wanted nothing to do with me. I tried to get sober and clean a few times but something would always give me an excuse to use. Anytime anything negative happened in my
life, I ran to drugs and alcohol. It was a non stop cycle! I had no friends left. I stopped hanging out with anyone who couldn't help me get my drugs. If I couldn't get that, I would just drink for days. Finally my family told me my Uncle in Florida would offer to help. They just wanted to get rid of me I'm sure.

I then went to live with an Uncle in Florida under the condition that I get sober and clean. He had his friend who was a recovering alcoholic come over and offer to take me to meetings. I got a job with him too that paid very well doing air conditioning servicing. I was more focused on work than the meetings which I still didn't like all that much. I now know there is more to recovery than what I was doing. I started using again. Not a lot at first but  my Uncle found me passed out drunk and high a few times. One time on the side of his house. I was so embarrassed and he was furious. I'm not even his son and I was causing him this much pain.  He gave me one day to get out. I went to a detox and came to a  halfway house in Daytona Beach to try and re-start me life. My depression is still an issue but already in just a month, I have found a job, attend church and follow a recovery program that works. I write out gratitude lists and have great friends here who support me and I support them. I don't have to be alone and I don't have to be miserable.

Spirituality is a big part of my life. I don't feel dead anymore and I look forward to each day. My family is also back in my life and some of my family is planning on visiting me next month. One day at a time.

Mike
Daytona Beach, Florida