I hope its okay to post pictures, I'm just proud of myself and I wanted to show my progress from the first day of my journey to a year later today.
I'm 28 and I was addicted to IV heroin for 9 years and then IV fentanyl and cocaine for 3. I overdosed 7 times, I was homeless, stealing from my family and stores, selling their property and mine, lying to family and loved ones, I got arrested twice, and I got assaulted by a dealer. I was severely underweight, I picked deep holes everywhere on my body and face, I hardly slept or showered, my eyes and face were sunken in, my eye was unevenly open(not sure why), and I had no period. I was honestly hoping to die. I had no friends and no one to talk to.. I was alone with my drug addiction and mental health problems. I thought I didn't have the strength to get better.
I got really bad really fast towards the end and asked my family for help. My mom quit her job so she could take me home to take care of me while I was in the initial recovery stage(along with other types of support systems).
Today is 1 year clean! The longest I've ever been clean in my life! My skin is healed, I gained weight, I'm working and going to school for computer programming and taking mixed martial arts classes!
I messed up 3 times in the beginning but it just made me realize more how much I appreciate my health now that I had it coming back.
I know a lot of you are in recovery but I still want to say this because it's just good to I think.
Number one most important thing is a support system. It took me 12 years to realize that I can't do it on my own and it's a daily battle.. even after one year of being clean, and will be for the rest of my life. I need professionals and a community of people to guide me because that little voice in my head that tries to convince me to get high needs to be kept in check, and it can get very tricky distinguishing that addiction voice and reality for me. Support, and keep yourself occupied.
"An idle mind is the devil's playground"
Best quote I heard from my therapist. Boredom and giving myself too much time is when the thoughts start to surface for me.
No matter how bad it gets and how much you think that there's no way of returning to a good life because of how badly you've gone down.. it's always possible if you take the steps to do it for yourself. Even when you mess up, don't stop trying and pushing.