“I felt awful, like I had hundreds of other mornings. But this day, something was different. My friend told me a story of my actions. While blacked out, I ran behind the bar where my ex worked. I started hitting him. Something in me snapped. THAT was my breaking point. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was quiet for a moment, then I said with tears in my eyes, ‘That’s it. I’m done.’”

‘I found his gun while blacked out. I held it to my head, trying to pull the trigger. His roommate ripped it away.’: Woman’s life has changed ‘drastically’ since becoming sober, turned her ‘nightmare’ into a ‘blessing’

‘I took LSD and had a ‘bad trip.’ My whole life shattered. When I began to ‘come down,’ the panic didn’t leave.’: Woman finally ‘free of the prison’ she made for herself after treating alcoholism
“I was living life on the edge; it felt glamorous and sophisticated. Then at 17, everything went horribly wrong. I went into drug-induced psychosis, but at the time I had no idea what was happening. I almost got married to a man I didn’t love because I thought that marriage would ‘save me.’ I eventually went to the doctor and told him everything.”

‘The nurse asked my husband, ‘Do you know your wife is an alcoholic?’ He knew. ‘Was the cop there for me?,’ I thought, frozen in fear.’
“I ended up buying a $1,500 puppy at the mall, taking a picture on the mall Santa’s lap by myself and checking into a hotel. Apparently, I walked from the hotel to an outdoor mall where I was arrested in a blackout for ‘drunk walking’ in public. Yes, I was arrested by the mall cops.”

‘Molly, I am sick again. I promise I’m going to get better this time.’ I hang up, but she is all I can think about. How can I love her so much, and be such a constant source of disappointment?’
“I don’t want to catch a glimpse of her beautiful face in my mind. It hurts too much. She is so perfect. How can she still utter the words, ‘It’s okay mom, I love you’? I don’t deserve her love or her forgiveness.”

‘I began filling my coffee mug with wine and volunteering in my children’s classrooms. I kept it my secret. I was a closet drunk.’
“After binging 3 bottles and passing out, I woke up in the hospital with a .43 blood alcohol level. Child Protective Services were called. At that moment I knew I needed help.”

‘I was sexually assaulted. I decided this was going to become a long suicide. I was a loser, complete trash, and I sold my soul to drugs and alcohol.’
“Here I was at 23, with Multiple Sclerosis and I needed a wheelchair. I grew into a deep depression. The party had ended. My mother would have to bathe me, feed me, dress me. I’d repay her with years of heartache. Also in these years, I found opiates.”

‘I woke up in jail, my hands and ankles handcuffed because I’d refused the breathalyzer test. My kids had been in the backseat.’: Woman beats addiction after several years of drug and alcohol abuse
“I drank nightly, but not always excessively. I thought I was in control. A few months later, I found myself living a literal nightmare. Simply getting drunk wasn’t enough. I’d drink well past the point of feeling good. But I wasn’t getting drunk until after I put my daughter to bed. I always got to work on time and performed well each day, so I refused to believe I had a problem.”

‘Our marriage was over. I found out things about him that left me devastated. I was raised in a home where divorce didn’t happen.’: Mom overcomes divorce and alcoholism with 2 years of sobriety
“I called a guy on the phone. He was like, ‘are you drunk?’ I said, ‘no,’ and my friends started laughing. Here I was, 24 years old, single mom of 2 boys and working 2 jobs. I was hurting and every chance I got I went to bars and drank more than I should have. I was in self-destruct mode.”