He thought they were his friends… But then they started to control his thoughts and snuggle into his insecurities. They began to feed off his weaknesses and dance along with the pounding of his heartbeat. They crawled beneath his skin and laughed at the mess they were making with his soul.
It wasn’t until John watched them carry his entire childhood off into the night that he realized his friends didn’t leave him with a drug addiction at the age of 10 years old… His demons did. John was diagnosed with Meth-Induced Psychosis Schizophrenia on the night of his arrest while running from these demons.
“I was running from a group of figures that were a mixture of what looked like real people and shadow figures. I was seeing things and hearing stuff… I was living in my own hell.” John spent 11 years of his life learning how to chase away his demons with self-medication that he didn’t even realize he chased away all his loved ones in the process.
“I drove a lot of people away with the way I acted with paranoia and schizophrenia being brought up by my constant drug use. The only people who talked to me were the people I sold to or bought from. I wanted a normal life again.” In fact, John hated the life he was living so much that his arrest was a relief. “Being sent to jail was a God-send. I know if I hadn’t been sent to jail, I would have kept going until the point of no return. I know people who kept on using [drugs] through the same diagnosis and now they aren’t themselves even when they aren’t on drugs.”
John saw his arrest as an opportunity to destroy the demons of drugs that were haunting him once and for all. He knew he couldn’t rebuild a stable foundation alone which is why he joined MentorWorks. “I had to shred myself to the pure things: like figuring out what makes me tick, what really pushed me down this road and what traumas did I not deal with in life, or on a daily basis, that I just bottled up.”
John refers to MentorWorks as the main stepping stone on his path to recovery and describes the difference between an average rehabilitation center and MentorWorks.
“Rehab teaches you all these skills you can sort through within society, but places like MentorWorks puts you into society and helps you start to use those skills in your daily life. It’s a big deal because a lot of people think, ‘They got out of rehab so they can deal with the stress of a job and paying bills.’ But in the setting of MentorWorks, you live in a house full of other people who are in recovery trying to do the same things as you, so you know if you have a problem you can talk to the house manager or the people you live with. They make the transition into living on your own, being able to support yourself and dealing with your daily problems a lot easier.”
MentorWorks gave John a safe place to go after being released from incarceration. John only knew to run from the demons of drugs and needed a place like MentorWorks to re-learn how to live a happy, sober life.
“Life isn’t meant to be a permanent comfort spot, you have to constantly change yourself and evolve to deal with life. I would have to say that life isn’t easy but as long as you remain in the center of your sober support, you will always have a place to turn, and that place won’t be drugs.”
John spent half of his life thinking drugs were his friends. You can help unmask these demons for young adults like John. Join MentorWorks today and provide refuge for those desperately seeking to be free from the demons of drugs.