Sobriety's possible, but you've got to want it

Sharon has been clean and sober since 1988. At 52, her life is beautiful.

"I love my life," said Sharon, a South Jersey resident who did not want her last name or hometown used. "I have a wonderful, wonderful life. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself and say, "Is this really me?' Because I really thought I was going to die drunk and be happy about that."

She grew up in a home in which she says she was sexually and physically abused as a child. She started drinking alcohol when she was 9 years old. It was her way to escape.

"I went to school intoxicated just about every day," said Sharon. "Nobody ever said anything. One time, my teacher in sixth grade asked me if I had been drinking. I was like, "Yes, doesn't everybody?' "

When alcohol became an obvious problem, she began abusing heroin, too.

It took two turns in residential treatment before Sharon was able to stop using and learn how to live without alcohol or drugs. Today, just about every member of her immediate family is in long-term recovery, she said, including her son. As sick as they were, they are now healing.

Twenty years ago, when she was first introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous, she was warned she needed to be serious about her recovery, because the day was going to come when there would be no treatment available.

"I believe that day is now," said Sharon, a recovery mentor who once worked for a treatment facility.

"It's very difficult to find it. It can be ugly if you need help and you want treatment and you have no insurance or no facilities available to take you. It's a mess."

Still, there is hope, she said. If someone really wants recovery, he or she can have it.

But, Sharon said, you have to want it. "Nobody can do it for you," she said.

Courier Post