Sean S.: The Spiritual Adrenaline Challenge!
Meet Sean S., he's committed to follow the program in Spiritual Adrenaline: A Lifestyle Plan to Strengthen & Nourish Your Recovery for a period of six months and to share his experience with you. Here is his background and reason for accepting the Spiritual Adrenaline Challenge. Pick up a copy of Spiritual Adrenaline: A Lifestyle Plan to Strengthen & Nourish Your Recovery, available at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.
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"I moved to the New York area 7 years ago to, among other reasons, live in a more racially/ethnically diverse environment, and to avoid ever having to drive an automobile again. With me, I carried a severe alcohol use disorder that I have had since the age of 17, but thankfully, for over 5 years now, I have been successfully in recovery from alcohol addiction.
Challenge participant Sean S. at a local beach in New York City.
Growing up, substance abuse wasn’t noticeably present in my family, or at least not noticeably present to me, being a child with parents that were very adept at keeping up appearances. My parents, who met when the lived in Los Angeles, later moved to Colorado where I grew up. I became painfully aware of feeling different and being uncomfortable in my own skin as a child. Living in a predominantly white town, predominantly meaning all white with the exception of my family, I stood out, and from an early age sought mental escape. I just wanted to be inside of my head where I could feel comfortably cordoned-off from the outside world. In early adolescence, before I had access to alcohol, music, specifically bands like The Cure and The Smiths, spoke to me and took me took me to a world where I belonged.
As I moved past adolescence, a time when a “normal” person seeks financial security, a mate, and an education,. I studied business media and communication, on my 1st go at higher education, and won an audition to co-host an alternative music video show on an awesome PBS affiliate in Denver in the late 90’s. I sought the things that “normals” seek, but my strongest ambitions were for escape and comfort. Alcohol provided that for me. Like seeks like, and I liked to keep the company of those who liked to escape with alcohol.
Alcohol may give, but alcohol most certainly will take away. Everything I managed after my drinking I lost. Eventually everything I managed before my drinking went away too. Recovery, as people say, is about getting those things back. IMore important, one learns in recovery to get a fulfillment and a peace in life one has never had. I am so grateful to be in recovery in New York. There is a huge community here, and so many people and resources to help.
At this moment I work for a British travel company, but my goal, my purpose, and hopefully my future life will allow me to give back all of the support and sobriety that has been given to me, and to help another person break free from addiction".