Escalation of Destruction
At 12 years old Sylvia struggled with her identity. When she gazed in the mirror her smiling face did not stare back at her, but a disappointing blank glare of judgment. Her hair was too curly and her ankles were too thin and for some reason she was never happy with who she was or what she had.
Her struggle to accept herself pushed her to use for the first time. Sylvia had dreams of becoming more than a drug addict, but as her depression deepened, she could not help but say yes when her friend asked her if she wanted to sniff paint. With one spray of the paint can, Sylvia suddenly liked herself and the high that she got was enough for her to start using.
Her drug abuse escalated to smoking marijuana, alcohol, LSD, and mescaline. Sending her down a path she never intended to go down, what she thought was fun was now corrupting her future and destroying her dreams.
Suffering with Her Disease
There wasn’t a time in her life she wasn’t using something and when her 20’s hit her disease had taken control of her life, forcing her to abandon her family, compromise her morals, and become a slave to the numbness that drug abuse gave her.
By 25 years old Sylvia was trapped in an abusive marriage with a man who did not not respect the love she gave or care about the illness she was suffering from. He forced her to work the streets to feed their addiction, pushing her to her limits with the promise of more heroin.
By 28 years old the grip of her disease suffocated her dreams from her as it ripped her three children from her, rendered her jobless and homeless, and sent her on a drug binge that would last for 9 years.
“When I started using, I had no idea the darkness that the using would take me into. I just thought I was getting loaded to have fun.” She shares with confidence.
But she never lost the love she had for her children and in between the hunger of her addiction and the abuse of the streets, she dreamed of getting her children back and becoming the mother that was trapped beneath the suffering.
The Steps to a Beautiful Life
At 37 years old Sylvia found the courage to stand up to her disease and reach out to a higher power for help. She began working a 12 Step Program that helped her accept herself and grow from the horrors of her past. Sober and healing, God had a plan for Sylvia that would turn her into the person that she always wanted to be, a person that would guide others as God had guided her.
During her rehabilitation, Sylvia learned that there was life after addiction, learned how to love and communicate, and most of all relearned how to dream. And by the grace of God, Sylvia became the beautiful person she looked in the mirror for, the beautiful person that was trapped inside all those years.
Sylvia began to work with women in recovery, giving love and acceptance to those who needed it the most. She went back to school and achieved a master’s degree in marriage therapy.
Rekindled the relationship with her family, more importantly the relationship with her sister.
Became the best grandmother to 9 amazing grandchildren and liberated over 101 women who were suffering the same disease she had.
“Your life can change. It’s a beautiful life and I don’t have to use anymore…”
I want you to watch Sylvia’s true story of addiction because you too have a beautiful life waiting for you. Don’t let your disease rob you of your beautiful life. You are worth getting clean for.
