On February 3, 2019 (Super Bowl Sunday), I was found unresponsive in Carrier Park in Asheville, NC. Paramedics administered multiple doses of Narcan, at which point I regained consciousness and was placed under arrest for DWI (Fentanyl). After 14 years of active addiction, 7 arrests, and 4 rehabs, I had finally lost enough to give recovery a chance. An unidentified man saved my life that day. According to bystanders, a pedestrian spotted me unconscious in my vehicle, busted out my driver's side window, pulled me out of the vehicle, and administered CPR until paramedics arrived. Fast forward four years later, and I am a certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor at a 30-day inpatient rehabilitation center in South Carolina, having helped hundreds of individuals and their families heal from the disease of addiction. The reality is every day we wake up and have a choice as to which voice we want to acknowledge. The voice telling us that we are defined by mistakes and imperfections. The voice telling us that peace and contentment are reliant on money, power, or fame. The voice telling us that we should conceal our past in fear of judgment. Or the voice telling us that we are uniquely qualified to help others because of our past. That our mistakes and imperfections are what make us unique. And that the risk of suppressing our pain is greater than the risk of expressing our pain.
