It has been a year and a half since Emi shared her story with Heartview. Here is her story 21 months into recovery.
"I was brought to Heartview June 30 2022. I had nothing left but clinging on to a small bit of hope that going to treatment would give me a second chance at life. I spent 15 years trapped in toxic relationships and toxic situations. My life was a roller coaster. I felt stuck and lost. I would get sober but I never changed my people and situation and always got dragged back down. I was looking at Heartview in Cando as a way to separate myself from the people and environments I had been stuck in. I needed to get myself back on track for me and for my daughter.
Heartview in Cando changed my life. They are family to me. They are the foundation to the life I have. I went there not knowing what I was doing afterwards. Within a week I had this life and determination in me. I fell in love with the Cando community, started the process of figuring out how to get me moved to Cando. I wanted to stay close to Heartview, the program and the people who had helped pick me back up. I worked hard while I was there and I did get a place. I went home for the weekend to pack and within three days of leaving treatment moving into my apartment in Cando. On June 30, 2024, it will have been two years since I moved to the place I now call home.
The life I have now amazes me every day. I took the challenge to change head-on. Anything uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone that is asked of me, I do. There is no growth if there is no change. When it comes to recovery, the only thing you have to change is everything. It has been the most beautiful experience I have ever been through. God has done for me what I couldn't do for myself and he has blessed me more then I ever could of imagined. My spiritual awakening has been the biggest part of my recovery. I have given myself to God and in return I have this life I never thought possible.
I have an amazing support system today. I attend meetings twice a week at Heartview still, I never miss because the newcomers remind me where I once was and I hope my story can give hope, so I keep going to tell my story, I'm also still in aftercare, I'm on my 68th week of aftercare and don't plan on stopping unless my insurance kicks me off. I have a wonderful job working at the very clinic I went to when I first went into heartview and was showed so much kindness when I was coming down, I now get to do that for other Heartview patients coming into the clinic, and then they see me at the meetings and it gives them hope. I am a receptionist and I love my job and coworkers.
I am a mother today that is there for my daughter, I have witnessed her blossom from the anxious child she use to be to a free, fun-loving child. I am raising her to love and know God. I am almost a year cigarette free! I am starting college this summer to get a degree in psychology for addictions so I can continue to use my bad situation to help others. Most recently God put a man in my life that has been the exact opposite of anything I ever experienced. I am excited for this new journey!
Don't give up.
Change is scary but staying in that vicious cycle of addiction is even scarier. I wouldn't change anything that I have been through- I wouldn’t be where I am today without my past. I have been reborn. God has restored all of the pain I endured beyond what I expected. I am excited for life today. I have dreams and goals that don't seem impossible. Recovery is possible when we allow change in our lives!"
