To experience addiction through the outside looking in was nothing compared to walking through fire myself. At the age of three, my father lost his battle with his demons, and now, two years ago, my mother also overdosed. I wish I could say I didn't follow in their footsteps, but I never could learn without touching the stove. By the age of sixteen, I dropped out of high school because I was fully submersed in a crippling addiction. That run lasted nine long years, which felt like an entire life in hell. Every single day, I wanted to crawl out of my own body. A progression of horror led me to be homeless, hopeless, and with a deteriorating body. Somedays, it isn't fathomable how one could still be alive when I reflect on those times. Every time I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. The dark side chewed me up, pimped me out, and spit me out like I was nothing. Yet I kept on. On my last day out, a friend and I lived in a parked crashed car, praying for a better way. The promise I made still rings true today. While I looked up into the sky, I said, “If you help me with the physical pain to get sober, I will stick with it.” An hour later, my freedom was ripped away from me by the local sheriff's department. The universe provided what was prayed for and detoxed me fully, which helped with the physical sickness. Two weeks into my incarceration, a drug treatment program was the perfect place for me. The program provided meetings, lessons on what was happening chemically, and peer support. By the time I was released after a month, there was no other option than to stick with it. Within twenty-four hours, I checked myself into a local state-run treatment center for three months because I still couldn't trust my thoughts. After fully completing the program, I still had to answer to the state, which granted me one year of drug court with mandatory drug testing and weekly groups. I genuinely believe everything was meant to happen in the order it did. Being ripped away from society and forced to be sober for some time saved my life. Granted, I could have gone back any time, but the reality is I never experienced life sober since, by my teenage years, I was already drowning. I completed drug court successfully, worked my steps, and became a role model to others. Today, after eight years of sobriety, my solution looks different from those in the traditional pathway. My solution is spirituality and the neverending pursuit of growth. I obtained my GED at twenty-nine, which led to me signing up for college. At the end of 2026, I will have an associate's degree with a goal to transfer to my local university through the social work pathway. Being a therapist will allow me to help others break the chains that hold them back from believing in themselves. My existence is a gift meant to prove that healing is possible, and I want to dedicate my life to showing others the way forward. Thank you for considering my story and my dream.

Recovery means life. Sobriety means freedom. I followed both of my parents into addiction from a very young age. My father overdosed when I was 3 years old and my mother recently overdosed in November of 2022. I traveled down the rabbit hole and into chaos from the age of 16, till I was 26. I found myself desperate, coldhearted, hungry, homeless and hopeless. On the last day of my decade-long binge, I looked up to the sky and prayed to God for help with the physical toll it would take to get clean. I promised that I would stay sober if my physical suffering was somehow lessened. A few hours later I was put into handcuffs and removed from society, in which I was lucky enough that they detoxed me. When I was released, I stayed in a 90-day rehab, got a sponsor, worked my steps, went to meetings and started to build this new life that I had never experienced before. Recovery and sobriety is the most precious gift this life has ever given to me. After dropping out at 16, I have finally found the confidence to enroll in college. Today I work a full-time job, take care of my body, nourish my mind, and I am capable of being there for the ones I love. Without recovery, I would more than likely be dead. My major will be psychology, where I aim to inspire as many souls as possible through my life experience. Thank you.