What got me to come to this site was a mothers question: "My daughter is entering drug rehab for the 3rd time, is there still hope?" I am 24 years old, have been in 3 rehabs, 2 halfway houses, been to jail once, detox 6 times (maybe more?) I've been a ward of the state at 22, I've been in the hospital more times that I can (literally) remember and i've had extended stays in two different pysch wards. My resume is not special...its one that many addicts share.

What differs between each addict and sober addict is what happened , when they stopped, how they stopped.I've been sober for 8 months now and I cannot look at one of those experiences and point out an AH HA moment, or pinpoint a spiritual awakening like they talk about in AA. I can't pick out one of a thousand bottoms I hit and tell you thats the low point that awoke me to what was coming: I had been in jail, I had been in institutions...all that was left was death.

On my third or fourth? stay at the Aurora detox center, I asked one of the couselors who had spent so much time with me, why she stayed postive depsite the revolving door of alcoholics and addicts (like myself) coming back time and time again to the center even after all her time and couseling. And she told me that she thought of it like a pickle jar. Everything she does loosens the lid, and eventually, maybe she wont be the one who gets it open, but with all the combined efforts, the pickle jar will eventually pop open. The pickle jar of my recovery was closed tight. But each stint in rehab, each detox stay, each AA meeting, each half way house, helped loosen the lid, until one day, 8 months ago, seemingly out of no where, it popped open. And I haven't had a drink or a drug since.