Alumni Spotlight: Sean

My name is Sean and I have been struggling with drug addiction and alcoholism for about 12 years now. I went to Stepping Stone Center for Recovery in November of 2016. Before I got there, I was in bad shape; I was kicked out of my apartment, living in a cheap motel, doing whatever I could to survive and stay high. I was fired for not showing up to work several times because I thought getting high was more important. Cocaine and pills owned me. I did whatever I could to get more. I weighed 132lbs when I came into Stepping Stone Center. I looked like a skeleton walking around, but I didn’t care; I didn’t want to live anymore. I would ask God every night to take my life so I wouldn’t wake up the next morning. That went on for a while until things got bad enough that I had to make a change. That’s when I called Stepping Stone Center for Recovery. When I got to Stepping Stone Center, I was nervous because I felt so uncomfortable, but that changed with time. The staff members were awesome and the therapists taught me an awful lot about myself. They really got down to the root of my problems. By the time it was getting close to leaving treatment, I was scared. I was staying in Jacksonville and I didn’t know anyone. That changed quickly once I settled in and got into the 12-step program I attend regularly. I have met some awesome people in Jacksonville and have made some real friendships. I have been going in and out of the 12-step program for quite some time. A few months after I got out of Stepping Stone Center I had a slip. That was the end of March 2017. I have been sober since 4/2/17. What brought me back so quickly was what I learned in Stepping Stone Center and the support I have from the people in the program. I decided to change my life completely because I was miserable. Today I live happily and freely from that old life. I live to help others that are just like me. The steps I have taken in the program have been tough, but are well worth it. They have taught me a better way of life all around. I still have my bad days, just like everyone else. I’m not as special as I thought I was. I just have a disease that wants to kill me and I have to treat it every morning with prayer to God, staying in touch with the people I have met in the program, doing the steps I was taught in Stepping Stone Center to prevent me from going back out and always trying to help others to keep me out of my own head. If I do those things every day I get one more day of sobriety and that is all I can ask for.