This is the story of a woman who struggled with an addiction to alcohol for most of her adult life. She ruined her relationship with her two sons and lost her marriage and all of her money due to drinking. This is the story of how she found Narconon alcohol treatment and was able to regain her ability to live life without drinking. Her real name is not used to protect her privacy.
Michelle was born in the mid 1960’s to an average middle class family. Her dad worked and her mom stayed at home. She made good grades, had a lot of friends and was a happy child. She was one of two girls, and she said that her sister was one of her best friends. She said that she was very close with her parents growing up and that her childhood did not explain why she eventually became an alcoholic.
Michelle Begins Drinking
Michelle said that during high school her self-esteem dropped. She said she was not one of the pretty girls that the boys would ask out very much. Michelle is a pretty woman, so this image of herself did not make sense. Michelle said that after she went through puberty she became very shy and withdrawn. She said that during a party that some of the kids from her high school had alcohol was served. She said when she drank, she lost all of her inhibitions. She said she became lively and was no longer shy and withdrawn. She said that when she was drunk she had the false bravado to go and talk to any guy she wanted because she just did not really care about the consequences.
Michelle was sixteen when she started drinking and she said that as soon as she had her first drink, she wanted another. She said that she started drinking every weekend and did not really see that that was not normal behavior for a sixteen year old girl.
Michelle finished high school and continued to get good grades, despite the fact that she was drinking every weekend. She said that in the beginning she did not drink herself into oblivion; she just drank enough to fight away her feelings of insecurity and shyness. Michelle went on to college and she said that was when drinking really became a big problem for her. She said that there were always parties to go to, and most of them served lots of alcohol. She said that was when she began drinking hard liquor. She said that was also when she began blacking out. She would get so drunk that when she woke up she would have no memory of what had happened. She said that there were plenty of times she would wake up in some guy’s bed that she did know and would have no idea of how she got there. Once this started happening, Michelle realized that she had problem. She decided that she was going to quit drinking and she did. She said that she did not drink for the rest of the time that she was in college.
In her last year of college, Michelle met a young man that she fell in love with. She said that he was tall and good looking and that she felt that he was out of her league. She said she was really surprised when he asked her out. She accepted and they started dating. Michelle said that she was very passive in the relationship because she felt that her boyfriend was too good for her. She did whatever he said and he apparently liked that she was so subservient. He eventually asked her to marry him and they got a house together. He continued to go to school to become a public accountant and once he graduated he made pretty good money.
Michelle said that their marriage was a happy one for the first few years. Michelle eventually got pregnant and she said that when she did the marriage took a turn for the worse. She said that as she gained weight with her pregnancy, her husband lost his desire for her and had no problem telling her as such. She said that pretty soon he was having affairs openly and she became more and more depressed. Once her baby was born, Michelle said that she started drinking again. She said that she got so drunk that her husband hired a nanny to take care of their child. Pretty soon Michelle became pregnant again. Michelle continued to drink for the first month of her second pregnancy until her family intervened and sent her to rehab. Michelle said that she was able to get sober and became very involved in AA. She said that she was able to stay sober for ten years through AA. Her marriage had become one of convenience and Michelle said she tried to stay away from her husband as much as possible.
Michelle eventually relapsed and relapsed hard. She said that she would try to get sober but was eventually unable to stay that way. She said that every time she went on a binge she would go through withdrawals and start hallucinating. She got to the point where she would have to drink everyday to prevent withdrawal. Her husband divorced her and took custody of her children. She said at that point she lost all control. She drank herself onto the street and would do odd jobs to get money. Eventually her family found Narconon and sent her there. Michelle said that Narconon approached her addiction not as a disease but as disability. She said she learned the tools or abilities that she needed to stay sober for good. She learned how to resolve disagreements through communication and tools to keep her calm when she got upset. She said that she has become a part of her children’s lives again and is doing well. She said if one goes and takes a look at her on Facebook, alcohol and problems from it are not a part of her profile. She said that she will never drink again because she does not need to. She works at Narconon and says she will for as long as she can because she loves helping other people overcome their addictions, and especially the folks who are struggling with alcoholism.
