Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, Substance Abuse Disorder, or whatever the hell you want to call it, are some of the most massive forces those of us cursed with these maladies can have to overcome. The recovery process is mired in misunderstandings, flawed perceptions, and unknown truths. There's things they don’t tell you about when you’re trying to get sober; Things you have to figure out on your own; Things left unsaid so they don’t scare you away.
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I’m going to tell you about what goes on behind the scenes of sobriety; detoxes, rehabs, sober living houses, Twelve Step meetings, “The Program”, things you won’t find in the Big Book and things that only those with years of experience have learned. I want to tell you all this not to be rebellious or controversial, but because every single alcoholic and addict deserves to know. They need to know what to expect on their road to recovery. They need to know so they can prepare themselves and so that we as recovered alcoholics and addicts can be of service by breaking down all those delusional excuses we ourselves used that caused so many of us to reject the betterment of our lives and learn how to live sober.
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I wrote this book for alcoholics, drug addicts, or anybody else who might care to know why we do what we do and what we have to do to overcome this malady. I set out to write this book to be blatantly and unapologetically honest with you about my life, sobriety, recovery, meetings, rehabs, detoxes, the people in all those places, and many other aspects of recovery.
This book is about how recovery works, shared in a way that will be direct and up front about what’s in store for you; to quell false notions and misconceptions, to destroy any contemptuous expectations you may have, and to call out the bullshit behind the delusional excuses we’ve all used to cave-in to the fuck-its. There are critical, vital, imperative, life altering lessons you’re going to have to learn, and, hopefully, I’m going to save you a little pain and time in learning them.
AUTHOR BIO
I had my first sip of alcohol when I was in diapers and took my last sip when I was 47 years old. I battled active alcohol and drug addiction for half my life. For decades I bounced in and out of detoxes, rehabs, sober living houses, Twelve Step meetings, churches, and psychiatrist offices. For half my life I failed at life and threw away all my chances at success. At 47 years old, I crawled into a bathtub with a kitchen knife and tried to end it all. Even at that I failed! With no hope whatsoever, I finally surrendered and learned how to get and, more importantly, stay sober.
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I know I’m not some famous author, actor, musician, professor, psychiatrist, or anything or anyone you’ve ever heard of. I’m just an average dude trying to do what I think God wants me to do, and one of those things I think God wants me to do is write this book.
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​Through my entire life, I have come across thousands of people trying to get and stay sober. I’ve been to thousands of Twelve Step meetings. I’ve heard all the solutions that worked and tried all the solutions that didn’t work. I always thought I was doing the work to stay sober and, upon failure after failure, resigned myself to a life of hopelessness and misery. In full defeat at forty-seven years old, I crawled into the rooms of AA one last time. I was scared to death it wouldn’t work, just like it hadn’t worked before. But something different happened this time. This time, I finally came to understand what this sobriety thing was all about and, more importantly, what my problems were and how to solve them.