Living Life Sober Is Great
Before going to Narconon, I needed alcohol to feel normal and function. I would drink before bed, thinking that was the only way I could sleep. A few days before arriving at Narconon, I stayed up all night partying and continued to party the next day. I eventually passed out on the beach. I woke up with nothing on me with all my belongings stolen and my family was looking for me. I had a massive sunburn and knew it was time to get help. I had a couple of friends who had gone through the Narconon program and they told me to try it. I got on the phone with one of the Intake Specialists and arrived the next day.
Withdrawal helped me in many ways, both mentally and physically. I could tell these were people who cared and wanted me to get better. It gave me a little kickstart to help me with what was to come. During withdrawal I could focus a lot better, my terrible sunburn was gone, and I had much more energy. After completing withdrawal, I went on to sauna.
I sweated out all the toxins through the sauna detoxification and reflected on my past choices. I felt lighter, as if not so much was weighing me down. I was also able to think about my past and how I handled different situations I had found myself in. Day by day, I was able to think with a clearer mind. I cringed thinking about how I handled different situations and how I could’ve handled them differently. After completing sauna, I went on to objectives.
When I started objectives, I felt I had to just power through them. I realized I wouldn’t get anything out of it if I thought like that, so I started applying myself. I ended up being able to do something I didn’t want to without resorting to alcohol to make it easier. I realized I lost many simple abilities because I spent years drinking. Objectives made it easier for me to start looking into myself and be open about my past actions because that wasn’t the real me; it was the alcohol.
Life skills was the most challenging part of this process. Thinking about the harm I caused to people I care about made me nervous to talk to them. For so long, I tried forgetting things on purpose, so I wouldn’t have to think about them and this made life easier for me. But talking to them gave me more confidence to move forward. I then looked at all the harm I’d done overall due to my alcohol addiction. I realized I wasn’t just hurting myself but also those around me.
“My advice to anyone struggling with addiction is to give treatment a shot. Think about yourself a year from now. Where do you think your addiction will lead you?”
My advice to anyone struggling with addiction is to give treatment a shot. Think about yourself a year from now. Where do you think your addiction will lead you? People seem scared of the withdrawal process and how long treatment could take, but it is worth it in the end. When you look at how long you’ve been using versus spending a couple of months in treatment to better your life, it’s worth it.
Narconon has you take a look at yourself and the people around you. It has you look at the hard questions and find the right answers. Narconon gave me the courage, and I learned to stop feeling numb to the world around me. I realized that showing I cared for people and things is a part of what makes living so great.
A.F. Narconon Graduate
