My personal video can be viewed here: William’s video
Hello my name is William; I have worked here at DWP for 29 years and I am a recovering addict/alcoholic. I grew up in Los Angeles and attended private school from 4th through 12th. I was in the 7th grade when I was introduced to pot and little did I know this would be the gateway drug for me. I progressed over the years into harder drugs and by the end of high school I was a daily user of some sort of chemical substance.
When I was about 19, I began to substitute my drug use for 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 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 got married and became a father to my second born daughter in March of 2003 that I realized I could not continue with this lifestyle. 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 to learn how to deal with my addiction.
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 a Catholic school and was afraid of God. I avoided invites from fellow members of recovery to attend church services, I used every excuse I could think of to not go with them. Then one early Sunday morning I ran out of excuses and attended church for the first time in many years. When I walked into church, I heard the worship, read the lyrics and felt this overwhelming peace. 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 by this time but I still was unable to fill the void I had tried so hard to replace for so many years until 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 pass on what I found to others that still suffer in order to keep what was freely 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!
May your prayer be answered and may you learn to live happy, joyous and free…
A friend
William A. Arriola Jr.
