Patient Recovery Stories: Overcoming Alcohol & Cocaine Addiction

If you asked me 6 months ago if I would be alive today, I probably would have said no.  My name is “Jonathan” and I am 45 year old recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict.  I’ve spent the last ten years living and working in Hong Kong. During that time I became a heavy cocaine addict.  I loved to drink and I loved to gamble and it wasn’t long before I cocaine became a part of my life.

Life has been pretty good to me.  I made lots of money in the stock market but sadly enough, I threw most of that away on alcohol, my cocaine habit and gambling at the horse races.  The past few years have been hell.  In March of this year, I overdosed at a friend’s party.  It was the overdose that made me “wake up”.  I thought, what I am doing here lying in this hospital bed?  I am almost 46 years old and my life is a disaster.

There aren’t any rehab options for Westerners living here in Hong Kong. A friend told me about The Cabin in northern Thailand so I decided to give it a try.  My program lasted 28 days.  The counselors introduced me to the 12 steps which we worked on every day.  Rehab was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Four weeks of digging up the past and talking about my abuse wasn’t easy.  But I was able to let go and start to appreciate and trust myself again.

I am now sober and enjoying life.  It still amazes me when I look back at where I was and how far I have come today.  For the first time in nearly a decade I feel whole again.  I know there are people out there just like me.  People who are caught up in drugs, alcohol and gambling.  Addiction is not fulfilling.  Take it from me, someone who has been there.  Addiction is only an attempt to fill a void in your life.  My advice to anyone out there who is suffering from addiction, is to give yourself a chance to feel whole again.  Go to rehab and get clean.  Life can be pretty amazing if you only give it a chance.  Many thanks to The Cabin for helping me to see that.