What recovery Means To Me - Chris G

When I mentioned to Chris about the ‘What Recovery Means To Me’ series he jumped at the chance to share his view of recovery. Within the hour he had sent me his article - ready and waiting! 

I hope that you enjoy reading Chris’s views on recovery – please comment or share with us your views.

Question & Answer sessions

The following Q & A's look into different aspects of my addiction, namely the reasons that made me want to change my behaviour and also the recovery that followed on from the decisions I made.

Please feel free to comment or email me if you wish.

Deciding to change

Recovery

Introducing myself

I battled with cocaine addiction for over 12 years, during which time I lost nearly all of the important things in my life. My cocaine addiction impacted on every aspect of my life. To start with, cocaine gave me confidence, but eventually it stripped me of all self-esteem, and I was left with a shattered life and shattered confidence.

In September 2007, I went to my local Addaction where I met a keyworker who has helped me to turn my life around. Since stopping using drugs my life has changed completely, although it has been far from easy. I have had to try to come to terms with things that happened in my past, some of which were reason for me initially using drugs to block my problems out. I now know that this will be a long and hard process for me, but I also know that I can get there. I have learnt the importance of having support around me and being able to talk about how I’m feeling, rather than bottling things up and then lashing out – but this doesn’t come naturally to me!

Since December 2007, I have been volunteering with Wired In. Through starting to write my personal story and sharing my experiences, I have come to terms with some issues that occurred in my past, and I think the process has helped me to move forward. I think it is important that people in recovery share their experiences so that other can see there is a way out of addiction. I have also found that I have benefitted. When I was using I didn’t really see any others options for me. But I now know that life without drugs is possible.

Since being in recovery I have come to the decision that I want to work in the addictions field. I am currently reading up about addiction and trying to get as good an understanding as I can. I am also looking for volunteer work, although, to date, I have not found any opportunities in my local area (Luton), despite searching high and low! Fingers crossed this will change in the near future!

I hope that you enjoy reading about my experiences, and I hope that they will help people to better understand cocaine addiction.