IT GETS BETTER SOBER
We checked in with these clean and sober individuals with various lengths of sobriety to see how life has improved for them in their recovery.
BY PAULO MURILLO
REAL FEELINGS
“Today I know how to solve all my problems through my recovery. It doesn’t matter how good, or how bad, I face my problems as a sober man. When things are good, I appreciate it. I’m grateful. When bad things happen, I have sober friends and meetings and a sponsor that support me. I can tell them anything that happens to me. The thing I love the most about being sober is being able to feel real feelings. I like having feelings no matter the situation. That is worth it for me to stay sober. Before, all I did was used drugs and was forcing myself to be happy. I didn’t care about anyone. Today, I am not like that. My life is better because I stayed sober.”
—Art Kongpennid, sober since November 14, 2016.
FOUND PURPOSE
“It just keeps getting better and better. I think the biggest thing in my sobriety is that I found purpose. I’ve been applying the concepts of service to everything I do. In sobriety I was able to create a really good career where I get to do something that I’m passionate about. I wake up every morning and go to a job I love That was never the case prior to getting sober. It was bad. I was working to make enough to get what I needed. There was never any career path or working towards one. I was just getting by on a day to day. I didn’t feel like I was making a difference. Because my life revolves around trying to create a better world for other people, my sense of wellbeing, my self-worth, all these things are light years ahead of where I used to be. Life absolutely gets better sober.”
—Alexis Sanchez, sober since March 18, 2014.
THE HEART
“I started downtown on Skidrow. I was doing what I needed to do to get the drugs or whatever. My life has changed dramatically. I’m sober 14 years now. It’s the best thing that ever happened to my life. Any achievements I’ve ever had, military service I’ve been in, any schooling I’ve had, my sobriety is the best thing I could have done in my life. I see myself today as a person with dignity—a person who has morals. I see myself as an educator in 12-step recovery. I see myself as a nice person now, as someone who is kind. I didn’t care about anything before. I only cared about myself. Today I have the heart. I have the mind. I love being a genuine person. I went from McArthur Park, living in abandoned buildings with rats crawling everywhere and now I have an apartment, I have a job, I have a car, so it does get better sober.
—Eddie Collier, sober since September 5, 2006.
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