“A Problem Is an Opportunity in Disguise“
—John Adams
“I was born in Amory, Mississippi where I spent the first 6 years of my life. I was an only child and most of my childhood was spent moving around. Life at a young age was hard and I would get picked on a lot for being overweight.
“When I was 11, I lost my father and soon after that my mom married my step-father; the man who raised me. After years of struggling in life, I felt like I finally had someone who had my back.
“Yet even though he always had my back, I kept him at a distance. I was afraid for so many years that if I allowed myself to care for him as a dad, I would lose him like I lost my real father. At the age of 12, I started experimenting with marijuana and alcohol. I was trying to find a solution to the different problems in my life.
“This started me on a path of total chaos and destruction which lasted for 22 years with multiple stints spent in rehabs and jail. During that whole time, the one person I tried for so long to push away was the only person who stayed by my side.
“I had been told all my life when I have children of my own, I will learn what it’s like to actually love something unconditionally. I thought I had filled the hole in my life, with years of ’unconditional love’ for drug and alcohol abuse. Then on February 4th of 2012, I became a father myself. I wish I could say that was enough to make me stop, but still, I used drugs and alcohol in an attempt to deal with my problems.
“I went to Narconon New Life Retreat in January 2016. While in treatment, I had to go to places in my mind I had been trying to forget for so many years. But confronting was the only way I ever could get closure and truly handle the issues I had been running from with drugs and alcohol for all those years.
“I was able to change all the damage from my addiction into something worthwhile. John Adams, our country’s second president once said,
“A problem is an opportunity in disguise.”
“Today I have turned my life around. I now work at Narconon helping those who suffer the same things I did. They too learn the life skills to actually deal with problems without drugs and alcohol. Through all the years I spent in and out of various rehabs, I never found a treatment facility that actually taught people how to live.
“This is why I decided to help give to others what was given to me.
“An Opportunity.”
—Daniel H.
