Bill M.

I started drinking when I was fourteen, and I drank until I was forty-one. And I had all the difficulties you had in dealing with alcoholism. But one day I was driving down the street, and I looked at this young man crossing the street, and he had an Air Force surplus overcoat that was dragging on the ground, hair down to his shoulders, and he was about the color—the green color of a dollar bill.

That was my son…That was my son.

And I thought, “You started this. You’ve got to get him out of this. You’ve got to help your family.”

And so, I went and checked myself into a treatment center, got my act together, started working on my family, and over the course of about seven or eight years, we got everybody sober. And now we’re living a great family life, we all love each other, and the past is the past.

I always had the love of my family and friends, but now I have their respect, and that’s very important. Bill

I was really struggling when I first got in the program with spirituality, the meaning of God and the purpose of God and those kinds of things, because I was never a very religious guy. And then I came across this passage: “Very quietly God speaks to you through your thoughts and feelings. Heed the divine value of your conscience. Listen to this small, still voice and you will never be disappointed in the results in your life. Tired nerves will become rested. The Divine Voice comes to you through strength, as well as tenderness, power as well as restfulness. Your moral strength derives its effectiveness from the power that comes to you when you listen patiently for the small, still voice.” That kind of broke it all out for me.

I’ve been sober for thirty-seven years. And so it’s such an ingrained part of my life. Once you figure out what you’re going to do and how to do it, it gets much, much easier. And in my case, I’ve got a program that works, and it’s worked for thirty-seven years, and I’m going to keep doing it.

My name is Bill, and I choose recovery every day.