One single dad. Two little boys. A life of alcoholism. Would Matt find what it takes to pull the reins back on his life?
Listen as he shares his incredible journey and testimonial about alcohol addiction.
Hi, my name is Matt, and this is my recovery story.
Bad before the good was running in circles in my life with alcohol and just constantly hitting the road, you know, not having time for my own family, not having time for my kids. Mentally during that time, I was real low on myself. I was beating myself up because I wasn't being a good father. It was terrible.
I have a five and a six-year-old at home who depend on me. I'm a single father. My children don't have a mother due to drugs. I worried for them because, you know, like our child, you see a little bit of yourself in your child every day. And I just worried that because I had never fixed that self in me, that the road I was going on was gonna be a terrible road to show them. And here I have my child, my blood, showing those things at an early age, and I'm not gonna be able to give him the answers he needs.
Well, the first day I came in here, I just remember walking out and staff were greeting me kindly. Everybody around the community was real nice to me. All warm and embracing. That made it very, very easy for me to find my spot.
I came to realize this is about fixing my whole mentality. Fixing who I am. Because drugs had stolen that from me. It was a real wake-up call. Through mental illness and everything else finally showing its face early on, it was scary.
With anxiety, I can never forget, you know, my first attack in here, first attack in six years. In the middle of class, falling to my knees, hands over my ears… And I just remember, you know, me being scared of what just happened. They were able to walk me through it and find me the tools to fight it. They weren't going to give up and neither was I, and I'm so thankful for that. I eventually was able to get that breath down and stop one from oncoming and I felt so proud of myself.
You know, my kids are young. What else would I put them through if I didn't come down here and do these 60 days? I'm going to be able to help them with these issues the healthy way, the way that I should have a long time ago. 60 days compared to 18 years is nothing. I have a whole booklet of paperwork that I could look through to any situation that was given to me by Avenues throughout the 60 days I was here.
From dad to dad, you know, they grow up very quick. So that makes us need to grow up very quick and do the right things.
My name is Matt. I found my way home, and you can find your way home too. I would highly encourage somebody to come to Avenues who's looking to get their life straight. They have everything if you want to get sober to do it the right way here.