When I arrived at Healing Transitions on March 30, 2006 I was broken, desperate, and lost. I started using at the age of 15. I felt a sense of ease and comfort every time I took a drink or used a drug. It helped me to escape and avoid reality while feeling I belonged with others who were doing the same. I didn’t make the best grades in school, but was able to graduate and a month later started attending cosmetology school. After graduating from cosmetology school, I started working in the field. There was a lot of partying after work and on the weekends.
I was quickly introduced to cocaine, and just a few years later, I started smoking it at the age of 29. Things started to go from bad to worse and I quickly lost everything I had. In January 2006, my drug use really took off and I stopped paying my bills. By March, the mortgage company had already started the foreclosure process on my home, and I didn’t even know that was happening. I was losing everything. My family intervened and introduced me to an alumni from the men’s campus who grew up in the same church and he told me about Healing Transitions.
When I got there on March 30, 2006, I didn’t want to go and I didn’t want to stay. I told my parents I wasn’t staying long. My dad told me they couldn’t force me to stay, but that I would not be allowed to come home if I left. For the first time in my life, I had nowhere to go and no one to rescue me.
What I did have, though, was a group of women by my side offering to help me and love me until I could love myself again. It only took a few weeks of being there before I knew this was where I was supposed to be. I had a sense of peace and belonging, and I started to see the truth for what it was. I couldn’t believe I was 30 years old and my life had come to this. It wasn’t supposed to go this way and there was no one to blame but me.
The gift of desperation motivated me to want to get my life back. I stayed at Healing Transitions for 14 months and then moved into Independent Housing. I was offered a part time job in the shelter before I moved out, and a week later, I was offered a full-time position and started working in detox.
The life I’ve been given back in recovery is a life so much better than before – a life filled with countless blessings. And even though there have been heartaches along the way, the promises really do come true! In recovery, we’re taught that we’ll be able to handle difficult situations that used to baffle us. I’ve been able to do this and more, walking through each situation with grace. I am beyond grateful for everyone who has crossed my path and come into my life. Everything I’ve been through has gotten me where I am today. I will have 16 years in recovery soon, and I couldn’t be more blessed.