Sitting in a prison cell, I could use my time becoming bitter over the cards I was dealt. Or I could choose to become a 
better person. Having surrendered my life and will over to God, I decided to invest in learning how to be the man God intended me to be.
Given my learning disabilities, reading has never been easy for me. But I had plenty of time to read and re-read until I understood what the author was saying. I started with The Big Book, moved on to the Bible, and eventually came across a book by Tony Robbins. It’s in that last book that I found this quote:
“Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
Those words hit me hard. It was like they were written just for me.
What you have to understand is I was one of those people who looked for any excuse to drink or do drugs. Are you one of those people? Do you use physical or emotional pain to justify your substance abuse problem?
Sitting in a prison cell, I couldn’t deny that I was in emotional pain. I was separated from my wife and children, unable to provide for my family from inside a cell, and disappointing everyone who was counting on me.
That pain was real.
But it was even greater pain that led me here: multiple arrests, DUIs, heart attacks, drug overdoses, and wrecking my car stoned out of my mind while hospitalizing several innocent people. Unless I found a way to use my pain to do things differently, I would go right back to using, back to being a shitty husband and father, and back in a prison cell–or a coffin.
We all have pain. It’s one of the inevitable parts of life. But what you do with that pain is entirely up to you.
Ask yourself these two questions:
- Do you feel restless, irritable, and discontent with your current life?
- Do you plan your day around your next high or your next opportunity to numb your pain away?
If you answered yes to either one of those questions, it’s time to use your pain to fuel a positive change in your life.
You’re not alone. Others have felt what you’re experiencing right now. I know that I have. And that’s why I know you can change for the better. I spent more than 40 years running to everything but recovery when I was in pain. And I’ve had more joy in the last 6+ years than I’ve ever known in my life.
Let me help show you the way. Reach out to me. I am here to help. Don’t let another day go by stuck in an endless cycle of pain and substance abuse. (800) 270-4315
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