I’ve Broken Through and Found Myself On the Other Side
An artist, an athlete, a lover and a fighter were all words that described a young man, before getting lost in a dark, alternate reality imposed upon him by his drug addiction. Methamphetamine and LSD brought this talented young man to his knees, leaving him hoping and praying for a way out. After finding Narconon, getting to the root causes of his addiction and figuring out who he is, he sat down and discussed what brought him to his breaking point and what he’s learned about himself during the past 3 months.
The Interview
“What was your life like before coming to Narconon?”
“It was insane, for lack of a better word. I was doing Meth, like, a lot and partying non-stop. I figured you only live once, so why not live it up? I kept going long after the party was over. I’d stay up for days, not sleep and my body started to slowly deteriorate. I actually felt terrible from not sleeping and not eating. I was losing weight and I was cranky all the time, so needless to say it was hard to be around me. Before getting into drugs, I was very close with my family. After a while I stopped seeing them, stopped calling them and eventually my drug use tore us apart.
“Drugs literally took everything away from me. I was an avid cyclist, an artist and what really killed me was losing my dog, Aria. That destroyed me. Drugs took my family and friends away, I ended up losing my girlfriend and dropped out of college. I was going to college for marketing and obviously, school was the last priority on my list.”
“Tell me about your decision to come to treatment.”
“Well, it’s kind of a crazy story. My life was getting more out of control by the day and, one night, I was high on LSD and running around Los Angeles on Hollywood Blvd. I don’t know how and I don’t know exactly why, but I managed to get myself into a conflict with some gang members and they literally tried to kill me. They chased me down Hollywood Blvd and in order to try and get away, I ducked off and pulled out my cell phone and called an ambulance to come check me out for a ‘medical situation.’ The ambulance came and I was all whacked out on LSD so they took me to the hospital. Since I was so high, as you could imagine, it was hard to tell what was real what was created by the drug.
“I was released from the hospital the next day and I realized I had seriously ‘hit bottom.’ I mean, at least for me, that was my breaking point. A family member of mine had already gone to Narconon and it was really helping them. When my parents confronted me, I jumped on the opportunity to go because I somehow knew it would really help me. “
“How was your experience at Narconon?”
“Completely life-changing. The Narconon program was very challenging for me. It had me literally handle each and every cause of my addiction and face all of my demons. I was able to get my body back and get all of the drugs out. My cravings slowly went away and everything started to seem more real to me, like I was coming back to life and back to reality. I realized that the things I had done in the past were absolutely NOT okay. Back then when I was using I couldn’t actually see what was happening. But I guess hindsight is 20/20. I finally regained my self-confidence and my ability to communicate with other people. I became more decisive in my actions and the bad memories of the past stopped controlling my life.
“I also feel, like, a million times better. I’m able to control myself and my thoughts for once in my life. I’m actually able to see what’s in front me instead of some skewed version of what’s going on. That’s a first for me. I’ve been able to forgive myself for the past and finally move forward to accomplish my goals. You know, I actually didn’t think I would feel better off drugs than on drugs, but I do! I don’t feel like I need them anymore! I’ve broken through my addiction and found myself on the other side.”
“What are you plans after leaving the program?”
“I want to finish my marketing degree since I have less than a year to go. I’m going to start cycling again and pick my art back up. I want to see the world. I couldn’t do anything before because of my drug use and now it feels like there’s a whole, wide world out there that’s just opened up to me.
“I really want to restore my relationship with my family and start helping them rather than just causing them problems. I spent so many years just being a liability to them. I want to repair the damage I’ve done and finally be the son I always wanted to be. I’m going to start taking care of myself so they don’t need to worry about me anymore. I don’t want them worrying every time the phone rings. I want them to be able to rest easy, knowing I’m clean and sober and moving forward with my life.”
“What would you say to someone who’s thinking about coming to Narconon?”
“I would say ‘don’t think about it, just do it!’ The Narconon program helped me so much and it helped to not only get myself off of drugs and to be happier off of drugs, but it helped me to realize that I’m a lot stronger than I thought I was. If I can do this program and get clean, so can you!
“To the families of addicts, I want to say that I know what you’re going through because I know what my parents dealt with and how they felt. Don’t every give up hope! Real help is out there and thanks to the Narconon program, addicts can and do get clean. Call them if you have a loved one who’s struggling with addiction. They’ll help them and your family just like they did for my family and I.”
S.S.
