Hi, my name is Mark. I am an alcoholic and an addict. My life
was
getting out of control. I started drinking and using drugs at
the age
of fifteen. My friends and I would hang out on a Friday night
drinking
beer and smoking pot. As time went on, I found myself not just
drinking
on weekends, but I was also drinking and using drugs on week
nights.
This was starting to affect my schooling. I was starting to cut
class,
and sometimes I was not going to school at all. My life was getting
so
out of control that I left high school in my junior year. Alcohol
and
drugs were starting to take over my life.
I entered the working world, but so much of my money went to
alcohol and drugs that I would not have money to do anything. I loved to
drink and get high. It just seemed to be the thing for me to do. I got
married but that did not stop me from using. My wife and I had a baby
girl named Melissa. You would think that after becoming a father, I
would start to be a responsible person, but that would not do it. I
found myself still hanging out with my so-called friends and not taking
care of my family. It was like I just had to be in the clubs. After my
wife and I got divorced, my drinking and drugs took off like a rocket.
I was working and seeing my daughter on the weekends, but that still did
not stop me. I convinced myself that I was not an alcoholic. There was
nothing wrong with me.
Seven years later I had a son named Marcus. I was still working
and
still hanging out in the bars, letting alcohol and drugs take
over my
life. Marcus was into sports, and I would go to my son's games
drunk, or
I would be there high on cocaine. I did not know what it was
like be at
my son's games sober.
In June of 1998, I tried AA meetings two or three times a week.
They told me to listen and not to compare. So I did, and at
times it
seemed like they where telling my story like I was looking
in a mirror.
I stopped going to meetings after about a year. After I stopped,
I
picked right up where I had left off. I went from A to Z...
just like
that. I went right back into drinking at night after work
and right back
into the bars. Slowly I started back into the drugs.
My life was going downhill again. It took me seven years
to get
back to the halls of A.A. I had to put myself into a detox
center for
three days. When I got out of detox, I started to go back
to meetings,
but I was still not ready to surrender. I was going to
meetings, but I
was still drinking and doing drugs.
In May of 2005, I was getting tired. I wanted to stop,
but I couldn't do
it alone. I had to make a decision I had to get my life
together because
I could not go on this way. I had to get a sponsor and
start to talk
about my problem.
Today I am eight months sober, and my life is so different.
I go
to A.A. meetings every day. I also go to twelve-step
meetings. I share
my common experience with others about alcohol and
drugs. Today there
are about 2,000,000 of us who are not alone anymore.
I know that I do
not have to drink or drug today.
My name is Mark and
I am an alcoholic
and addict.
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