Success stories
Share
Introduction
Excellent habit forming takes time
We are still busy with our series about good habit-forming. You now know it takes commitment and perseverance to create a new, good habit. How far have you come in your journey during the last few weeks? We would love to hear from you.
Today, we are going to lift your spirit with a few success stories. These people did it! They decided ‘enough was enough’ and ‘something’s gotta give.’ The stories are based on facts, but names have been changed to protect identities.
'Carolyn.'
Carolyn’s first experience with alcohol came with an incredible adrenaline rush. After having her first few beers at thirteen, she went along to a ‘haunted house.’ It was such fun! The alcohol enhanced everything, and she wanted to feel that ‘rush’ again.
She started binge drinking almost every weekend and became the ‘witty friend,’ and the best dancer.
Carolyn settled down a bit after college and when she got married. Her life was full of the antics and activities of her three beautiful boys.
But, soon, too soon, they were grown up, and Carolyn was left alone in an empty house.
She was lonely and bored and started drinking again. It escalated to a bottle of wine an evening. She became sick, looked ten years older, and was swollen and puffy. Her health was starting to fail.
One evening, she was listening to a motivational speaker, and it triggered something within her. Carolyn decided that ‘enough was enough.’
She stopped drinking. She was not comfortable at first to attend AA meetings, so she joined a few online groups for women in recovery. She took specific steps to change her habits.
A few months in, she started to attend AA meetings to add to the podcasts, books, and blogs she was reading and listening to. It worked, and Carolyn is now almost a year sober.
‘Don’
Don always felt the odd one out. He was socially isolated and fearful. In high school, he found some solace in drugs and started skipping school and running away from home regularly.
His parents committed him to an involuntary in-patient drug program. It did not work. Don was soon on the streets again and ‘scoring.’
By the time he was fifteen, he was stealing cars to support his habit. In the end, he served over twenty years in jail for a series of bank robberies. He felt dirty, depressed, and suicidal.
The turning point came when one day, he realized that only he could forgive himself. He could be whoever he wanted to be.
Don stopped using drugs and worked with a sponsor. He was learning how to live. He went back to school, got a career, and got married. It took hard work and perseverance.
Today Don is a public speaker and an author. He says that if he could do it, anyone can.
Conclusion
It is important to note that each person’s ‘turning point’ or ‘rock bottom’ would differ. What worked for one person would not necessarily work for you. Each must carve out his own path.
However, the ‘hard work’- part is the same for all of us. The ‘keeping at it’ and the ‘sticking’ to your goals. Without it, there will be no success stories.
Emile was a doctor with a drug habit. ‘I am not responsible for my addiction,’ he said after getting clean, ‘but I am responsible for my recovery.’
This statement can be true for any New Year's resolution: only you can be responsible for turning your life around and starting doing what needs to be done.
Why not take the first step? Or as our founder Peter T. Cook says daily – Por Que No! Which mean why not. Go for it and you just might be surprised at the incredible gifts and talents that lie hidden inside you. You’re a blessing, a gift, a miracle – Thank You for being YOU!!!
Resources
https://heroesinrecovery.com/stories/carolyns-story/