A Little Motivation (and Some Reassurance!)

Last week I talked about an interview I did for answers.com. This opportunity gave me a platform to talk about raising awareness of addiction and recovery. More importantly, it helped me to see how far I have come from my days of using. I’d like to share with you an example of this. Along my four-year journey in sobriety, I have been surprised with a number of great moments. Recently, I experienced one of these. It was even sweeter because it came from someone to whom I look up to tremendously. After completing my interview with answers.com, I tweeted the finished product to my followers on Twitter. Shortly after, I saw that Dr. Drew has re-tweeted my post and shared my story with his followers. I was beyond honored. Not only does Dr. Drew have a large following but, more importantly, he is someone I hold in high regard. He was important to me in the beginning of my journey and has continued to be important throughout. Seeing his support, even through this seemingly simple gesture, was very exciting! I began to think about how I have gone from being a patient of Dr. Drew’s to being a colleague and working to promote the message of recovery. Furthermore, his gesture showed me that he shares my values and agrees with my message. I can only describe this as a moment of sheer gratitude and am humbled by how the process has, again, come full circle. In my addiction, I was lucky to meet great people such as Dr. Drew and Bob Forrest. I am luckier still to continue to be able to work with them in my sobriety. We speak frequently but I never expected them to follow everything that I have been doing. To see that they continue to have their eyes on me only makes me want to keep doing what I am doing. And then some! I said in my answers.com interview that the most important piece of advice that Dr. Drew had given me was to, “surrender, drop your ego, and take guidance”. Even now I use this in my everyday life and am constantly reminded of its importance. I hope that I am able to continue on my path of working to break down the stigma against addiction and gain people’s attention about the process of recovery. I do this not for myself, but to reduce the stigma that kept me, and many others, fully in my addiction. It is my hope that people such as myself, Dr. Drew, and Bob Forrest are able to gain the momentum and force for recovery that has kept the drug epidemic going at full force.