For anyone recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, it’s natural to look back on certain milestones and marvel at how far they’ve come. Chad’s epiphany arrived recently as he was driving to a meeting at Guiding Light, and he spotted a homeless man on the highway offramp.
“It just hit me as I saw all the mess and chaos of life lived out there. And I realized, ‘That was me.’”
After years in and out of sobriety, Chad describes that period of life as being in “a very dark place” of depression and drug use, including an overdose.
He finally found himself in Pontiac, living in his car with an empty tank of gas $19 left in his bank account. Somehow, he was able to use his debit card to put enough gas in the car to return to Grand Rapids, where he ended up at a homeless shelter. Someone there referred him to Guiding Light.
What a difference a year makes when accompanied by hard work and commitment: Today, Chad has awakened to a new life. He is back to work in the career he loves, computer-assisted drafting. He is building his savings, staying in our Iron House sober living community and has returned to attending church. He is giving back to Guiding Light financially and by volunteering his professional design services.
“Words cannot express the depth of gratitude I have to Guiding Light Recovery. They got me to where I am at today. I am the sum of their labor.”
Chad knows a bit about recovery – and so he recognizes the different approach at Guiding Light. He fell into substance abuse relatively late in life, at age 25, but succeeded in staying sober at one point for 11 years before relapsing. He got clean again but, looking back, he sees how that started to falter. “My recovery wasn’t really solid. I wasn’t really reaching out and being vulnerable.”
That changed from the moment he was admitted to Guiding Light, where he discovered what it means to experience “recovery reimagined.”
“I had a lot of things I had to overcome, and most of it was things that I thought I knew about recovery. I was my own stumbling block. Eventually I surrendered and stopped trying to be in control, and it got significantly easier at that point,” he said.
“With GLR, you’re going to get honest feedback. People are going to say, ‘Hey, are you OK? Or ‘Hey, I think you’re on the wrong path.’ They expect you to live a different way.”
He took full advantages of the resources while in recovery at Guiding Light, including the mentorship of the Achieve phase of getting back to work. He followed advice to revamp his resume and got a call back an hour after sending it out. A little more than a week later, he got the job.
“I was completely transparent about where I was living, my situation, everything. When I got the job, I was so beside myself. I never thought I was going to do that work again. It was such a great experience to be transparent – and that’s the program.”
One of his first moves was to set up an automatic donation from each paycheck to Guiding Light Recovery. He recognizes one of the strengths of the program is that it is 100% donor-funded, which allows services to be provided free of charge without the distraction of insurance or government funding. “They are saving lives and there’s a seriousness and an intent with GLR that is afforded because of donations.”
Chad’s new approach to life is a far cry from the “very dark place” he left behind.
“Looking back to where I was a year ago, it boggles my mind how a year with guidance and a lot of resources can change your life.”
