Tim Payne

For 10 years I have kept my recovery between my family and close friends. July 7, 2013, 10 years ago today, I used for the last time and embraced a world without drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol were amazing, until they weren’t. Life was fun, until it wasn’t. In the end I was left alone, empty inside, and helplessly addicted to prescription pills and heroin. I was a good kid growing up, never got into trouble, honor roll, played sports and came from an amazing family. The person I was growing up had slowly been eroded away and replaced with a monster. I contemplated homelessness because it would be easier than quitting. A college graduate planning to break away from his family to beg for money on the street. Addiction is real. I am an addict, but I am an addict in long term recovery. I am just like your sons, your daughters, your father and your friends. This disease is affecting so many, yet so few are willing to talk about it to help de stigmatize it. It’s killing us at an alarming rate and I surely would be dead if I didn’t change when I did. Addiction isn’t a choice it’s a disease. It’s ok to be an addict but it’s not ok to not do something about it. I’ve been silent for too long as friends have died and families I know have been broken. These too were good kids, who became good people who sadly just couldn’t break the chains. I plan on sharing my story because it is time to start talking about it.