Blogs

I went to a meeting last night. I’ll be 100% honest. It had been just over a week, maybe even two. It was a smaller sized meeting, which I like the most because it typically means I will eventually have to share. It’s not so easy to hide when there are only 10 people in the room. The speaker was someone I hadn’t seen before, and he was celebrating one year; a huge milestone. He was grinning from ear to ear, and I could tell he was a bit nervous, as I was when I hit the first year.

Well, it’s certainly been a while that I, Recovery Rob, just sat and wrote something about what’s happening in my world of addiction treatment and recovery. So, here I am.

The other night I was flipping through the channels. I don’t watch a lot of television, but sometimes I just like to see what’s out there. I stopped on a familiar program, one I can’t seem to help watch. It’s about alcohol and drug addiction, and this specific episode was focused on inhalant abuse. Although I work in the field of addiction and recovery, and I know that about 54% of all treatment admissions are related to inhalant abuse, it still throws me a bit.

You might not have heard this news, but it caught my interest as soon as I heard the news-story. Of course I work in the field of addiction and recovery, so I’ve probably trained myself to notice medical news that might affect our clients here at Pat Moore Foundation. Another group who might be tuning into the news release of Zohydro, a 12-hour pain relief medication, is exactly the group we try to help.

One of the women I sponsor in Al-Anon celebrated her birthday last night. I’m not referring to the day she was born (what we call her belly button birthday), but the day she found her way to Al-Anon. My first meeting was a birthday meeting, and it struck me as a strange custom. That fact that I needed a program like Al-Anon seemed no cause for celebration. I had no intention of marking the date. But within a month, I was backtracking the weeks to mark my calendar. I couldn’t articulate it at the time.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Sarit Rogers at VisionsTeen.com. VisionsTeen began following me on Twitter, or was it Pat Moore Foundation first? I’m not sure but it doesn’t matter. We’ve connected and we are thrilled to connect our communities.

A few years back I became the content writer for Pat Moore Foundation. It was shortly after they’d revamped their alcohol and drug treatment website. They wanted a fresh feel, and a new writer on board. They understood the power of internet marketing and great SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This position quickly led to my own blog where I could tell my personal story of my own struggles with addiction, and what it’s like today. It’s been a great outlet, and honestly, it helps keep me sober.

When I was a kid, I had parents that were everything but “normal.” One, they were young hippies, 18 and 20 respectively; Two, it was the ‘70s; Three, my parents were divorced, something that wasn’t nearly as common then as it is now. I often found myself standing outside of the primary social circles at school, amongst my neighbors, and within the confines of my familial structure. Yes, even in my own family, I felt like an outsider.

If I were to sit here and tell you that teen suicide was not something I thought about when I was younger, I’d be lying to you. I don’t talk often about those days because I feel so far removed from that sad, dark teenager. The memories, although long ago, are still somewhat clear in my mind. Back then I thought I was alone; that I was the sole punching bag of the world around me. What I didn’t get was that many teens and younger who were living a life similar to my own.