My personal video can be viewed here: William’s video

Hello my name is William
and I am a recovering child of God, free from my drug and alcohol addiction one
day at a time. 

I grew up in East Los Angeles, had a really good home and childhood. I attended
private school from 4th through 12th. I was active in sports and I remember
being in the 7th grade when I was introduced to pot and little did I know this
would be the gateway drug for me. The partying didn’t develop immediately but
let me tell you a seed was planted and little did I know it would progress over
the years into harder drugs and by the end of high school I was a daily user of
some sort of chemical substance or alcohol.

When I was about 19, I began to substitute my drug use for more
alcohol drinking. I thought I could replace the effect I got from drugs with
alcohol but all I did was drink to excess and immediately became a black out
drinker. This behavior continued for many years, through most of my young adult
life I would drink to get drunk which would almost always lead back into
smoking or ingesting some sort of drug. I would sober up for periods of time, a
year here a year there but would inevitably start drinking and using again. I
could not stop but I thought I had it under control and nobody knew what was
happening to me…(WRONG)!

I started working with the DWP in January of 1991 it was about
this time I realized it was not socially acceptable to continue doing the drugs
I had grown up doing. Alcohol was very acceptable in and out of the department,
so I felt I could stick to the drinking. I did well throughout my career and
was able to function as I had in the past. It wasn’t until I was married for
some time, had a family and became a father to my second born daughter that I
began feeling sick and tired of the things the alcohol began doing to me. It
was in March of 2003 that I realized I could not continue with this lifestyle
and continue living like this and putting my family at risk, let alone my
co-workers. I remember the last weekend of continuous drinking and showing up
to work broken and feeling sick and tired of this life. I talked to my
superintendent and told him I needed help. He set up an EAP appointment and
drove me to the office where I met with an EAP rep and was set up with a 30-day
outpatient program. This program was the beginning of what I needed in order to
save my life and the tools needed to deal with my addictions.

After completing the program, I went on to attend AA meetings,
began dealing with life as it happened. I was developing ways to stay sober but
did NOT want anything to do with GOD, remember I had attended private school
and was afraid of the God I had been introduced to at a young age. I avoided
invites from fellow members of recovery to attend church services; I used every
excuse I could think of to get out of going with them. Then, one Sunday morning
I ran out of excuses and attended church for the first time in many years. When
I walked into this church, I heard the worship, read the lyrics and felt this
overwhelming peace come over me. It was as though my soul was rejoicing, tears
began to run down my face, I could not control or hide this emotion. I had been
sober about 3 years but I was still unable to fill a void within me I had tried
so hard to replace for so many years with the drugs & alcohol.

That morning, I began a personal relationship with God and I
remain sober to this day because of GOD and because of being involved in
recovery groups. In my sobriety I have gone through the hardest things I have
ever had to go through in my life. I was able to go through the death of my
youngest daughter Nicole Desiree Arriola at age 6, a divorce shortly after from
a good woman that I had lost focus of while loaded, which then removed the only
remaining family from my home. This disease/condition does not stop; it will
kill me if I go back to the way I once lived. I know without a doubt that I
would not be able to cope with life on life’s terms if I had not been shown a
new way of living. Recovery and God are what keeps me going daily, no matter
how bad or good life gets. I need GOD, the fellowship of other sober people and
I need to freely pass on what I found to others that still suffer in order to
keep what was given to me.

It is by GODS grace that I have what I don’t deserve and by GODS
mercy I don’t have what I do deserve.

I am proud to be here today to share with you a very little bit of
my story and to let you know that WE are not alone, and that no matter what
happens in life, WE do not have to ever use or drink again. I want to leave you
with this, if you are truly serious about stopping ask God (a God of your
understanding) to relieve you of the bondage of addiction and get help today.
It works, my recovery date is March 23, 2003 we are here for you!

May your prayer be answered and may you learn to live happy,
joyous and free…

A friend

William A. Arriola Jr.