-Jose, San Quentin State, CA
My message to all addicts is have hope. Have faith in your higher power God or whoever is your motivation to change. You have to know that you could not change by your own understanding. I know because I did try many times to let my addictions go, but I couldn’t do it on my own.
I needed God to help me come out of the hole that I was in. I tried it all, using different drugs, mixing, leaving one for the other and I still couldn’t. I remember going to groups of NA, AA, Peer Support, and all messed up on drugs or drunk.
I did not care for anyone. I was trying to find a way to leave it. I heard about Step Two, which is coming to believe in a power greater than oneself and the hope that it could restore my sanity. I knew that was the answer.
By the middle of May, I reached one of my aha moments! I broke into a cry, asking God to please help me to change. I was tired of this life of getting high to avoid reality and to cover my pain. God listened to me. I was placed in the SHU for two months. In June, I told God that with his help I would start a new life.
Soon enough, I started walking into the light. I stopped living in denial. I did a complete three-sixty, and started fresh with positive people, positive places, and things like that. For that I am grateful to God and The Beat Within, for letting me give back.