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Karen Price's Story
Karen P.
For me, recovery has been a breath of fresh air, an awakening if you will. Perhaps this is why the term clean is used, because when you go through recovery, you are cleansed and refreshed.
After spending 12 years of my life addicted to opiates, I couldnt even imagine life any other way. The drugs had become a necessity to sustain me, just as air is required to breathe. I found myself stopping at nothing to obtain the drugs; nothing else mattered to me, not love, my career, my home life, or even myself. The addiction had consumed me to a point of complete self-destruction; I am still utterly amazed that Im alive.
Then one day, I was rescued or, as the Drug Task Force would word it, I was arrested. Life as I knew it was over, or should I say life as I know it now was about to begin. You would think that losing everything, including your pride and freedom, would be a bad thing, and I must say, at the time, I was to say the least a bit upset with my current conditions. This was absolutely necessary in my life; although it was painful, it was also part of my cleansing.
I spent the first 40 years of my life an empty shell, pushing numbers at an accounting firm and wandering through life without meaning. I never really looked at people. I saw everything as black and white; there were never gray areas. Most would say I did okay and was a good person. I was a single mother with a decent career, and I believed in myself and my goals. I can tell you that if my recovery program has taught me anything, I have learned that all those years were in darkness; now I live each day in the light.
Today I am clean and vibrantly alive! Each day is a new day filled with freshness like clean sheets that had been dried on the clothesline during a crisp spring day. No matter what the weather is when I step out into the day, Im thankful because the air smells sweeter, the sky looks brighter, and the birds are always singing. I am alive and filled with a joy that only God can give me. Today I am happily married, my daughter is in college, and I am pursuing my degree as a counselor.
Recovery is so much more than a word to me; it is my way of life. Sometimes when I take a minute to reflect on where I was and where I am, I am amazed with the wonderful and awesome changes in my life. Even with the struggles along the way, I have never known my life to be filled with so many blessings, love, and happiness as it is now. This is life as God has always intended it to be for us.
Watertown, New York
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