{"id":2042,"date":"2016-11-14T10:51:54","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T10:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ladwpcares.org\/?p=2042"},"modified":"2021-06-14T07:57:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T14:57:09","slug":"new-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ladwpcares.org\/index.php\/2016\/11\/14\/new-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"New Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2042\" class=\"elementor elementor-2042\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4f2af82 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4f2af82\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-a842ee6\" data-id=\"a842ee6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-837b2c2 de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"837b2c2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>I had never been arrested or ticketed for driving while I was intoxicated.\u00a0 I had never lost my kids, my job, or my home.\u00a0 I had never even been kicked out of a bar.\u00a0<\/p><p>There was no catastrophic incident, but I hit rock bottom.\u00a0<\/p><p>Drinking, I thought, made life more bearable. I self medicated with alcohol and at some point, drinking went from being fun, to being necessary.\u00a0 I considered when I would be able to drink before everything else.\u00a0 I hid alcohol and snuck drinks.\u00a0 I lied.\u00a0 I bargained.\u00a0 I manipulated.\u00a0 Most days, I was drinking, drunk or hung over.\u00a0<\/p><p>It was never enough.\u00a0 The concept of having \u201ca couple drinks\u201d bewildered me.\u00a0 That was something I could not do.\u00a0 I was also stuck.\u00a0 I would tell myself that I wasn\u2019t going to drink that day, but sure enough, I would.\u00a0 I would drink to cope, but would be creating more to \u201ccope with\u201d as long as I drank.\u00a0 There is nothing worse than waking up with regrets and piecing together what happened the night before.\u00a0<\/p><p>I hung out with denial for quite awhile.\u00a0 I abused alcohol for years before I admitted that I needed help.\u00a0 Admitting that I needed help, not only meant that I had a problem, it meant that I wasn\u2019t going to be able to go to bars and drink with friends or at events.\u00a0 That part of my life would no longer be able to exist.<\/p><p>The night before I started on my road to recovery, I planned my suicide.\u00a0 I had rationalized it as being best for everyone.\u00a0 I had planned how and where I would do it. This is what it had come to.\u00a0 I was completely hopeless.\u00a0<\/p><p>When\u00a0 I woke up from the black out, in a haze, with the realizations and the seriousness of the night before coming back to me, I knew I had to surrender\u2026I had to do what ever I had to do to save myself, to save my life.\u00a0 I was really scared, but I did what I had to do.<\/p><p>I have been sober now for three years.\u00a0 I have a new outlook on life.\u00a0 I have hope.\u00a0 I am grateful.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had never been arrested or ticketed for driving while I was intoxicated.&nbsp; I had never lost my kids, my job, or my home.&nbsp; I had never even been kicked out of a bar.&nbsp; There was no catastrophic incident, but I hit rock bottom.&nbsp; Drinking, I thought, made life more bearable. I self medicated with&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ladwpcares.org\/index.php\/2016\/11\/14\/new-hope\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">New Hope<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":6373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[58,59],"class_list":["post-2042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peer-stories","tag-anonymous","tag-peer-volunteer","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Hope - Peer Volunteer Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Hope - Peer Volunteer Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had never been arrested or ticketed for driving while I was intoxicated.&nbsp; I had never lost my kids, my job, or my home.&nbsp; I had never even been kicked out of a bar.&nbsp; There was no catastrophic incident, but I hit rock bottom.&nbsp; Drinking, I thought, made life more bearable. 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