By LYLE R. FRIED, CAP, ICADC, CHC In Addiction Recovery
Posted December 18, 2017
Sobriety Through God
Hello Shore’s family. After roughly 11 or 12 years of using and countless times trying to quit on my own, I’m very proud to say that after coming to The Shores and by the grace of God, I will have 8 months clean and sober on December 11th. Like many of you reading this, I was restless, irritable and discontent prior to coming to The Shores.
Open to Change
I finally came to the conclusion that I had to lower my guard and push aside my ego to ask for help. Not just physical help. I needed mental, emotional, and spiritual help. I knew little to nothing about NA/AA, let alone treatment itself. To be quite honest, I thought it was some sort of mental institution where they would lock you up and you would not see the outside world for weeks on end. So that’s how I viewed treatment before going. When I arrived at The Shores, I was welcomed by loving and caring people who wanted to make sure I got the help I needed. I built healthy and strong relationships and bonds to the people I now call friends while I was there. The Shores was there to help me rewire my brain. I just had to be willing.
Working the Steps
I sure as hell was ready to leave the life I was living behind after I saw so many people truly happy and comfortable with themselves. I knew right then and there I wanted what they had. All I had to do was take a few simple steps. I’m not finished with my steps and that tells me one thing. That there are even more promises to come. As I get further along, if I put in some work and continue to do the next right thing and always stay connected to God, good will always prevail. I work far from a perfect program but always continue to grow spiritually. It never ceases to amaze me the caring, kind-hearted people I meet in the program who used to be just as broken and messed up as me. That’s where the hope is for the still sick and suffering. To show them they don’t have to live that way anymore. It is truly remarkable the things I have been blessed with in my life today. I owe it all to God. God works in every aspect of my life today, the good and the bad and I am truly grateful for being able to see that now.
