Hopeful Recovery
We asked these clean and sober individuals with different lengths of recovery time to share how hope and staying hopeful helps them stay the course
SAFETY NET
“I did everything that I was supposed to do in my first two years of recovery and I found that I still wasn’t happy. I had hope that as long as I stayed sober, good things would come. I walked away from my job and decided to focus on what I love, which is performing, so now I have a burlesque show at the Hollywood Roosevelt called On the Fringe and it’s awesome. I had hope and this past May I made Queen Latifa laugh and I hosted a show for A-List celebrity and it’s been amazing. Before I got sober, I hoped I wouldn’t make it the next day. I had no kind of awareness of the things recovery has given me which is hope, faith, trust. I didn’t even know what those words meant before I came into recovery. I also have hope for younger people with a trans experience. When I came out, I was taught that if I want any kind of life, I needed my own money and I needed to get it by selling my body. Women like me today have a safety net, inclusions in schools, and job opportunities. I’m blessed. And I’m excited for this next generation.”
—Delilah Rose, sober since June 10, 2020.
FINE LINE
“There’s a really fine line between hope and faith. When I got out of prison 19 years ago, I didn’t know what my life was going to look like. I knew that I was going to be 50 years old and I knew I had been off the grid for like 21 years, 10 years inside, and the time before I went away, that was kind of useless time. So now I have hope that I could make a good life for myself. I rebuilt my life in the rooms of recovery and I built my character based on the principles of the program, and that character moved me forward so that I was able to make responsible decisions. I had hoped that I could build my life and now, looking back, I’ve been out 19 years, and I have this amazing life. I have a job, some money in the bank a relatively new car and close friends. Hope and faith keep me sober.”
—Marc Rabins, sober since January 17, 1995.
BEST LIFE
“Sobriety has helped me go from hopeless to hopeful. By staying sober and doing the work, I’m living my best life today and I have the opportunity to help others and that’s probably been the greatest joy of my sobriety. I have hope when things get tough. I reflect and remember what it used to be like and what it’s like today, and knowing that no matter what, I’m going to be OK. When I got sober, I just wanted to stop using, I didn’t know I was going to have this rich, beautiful life. I just wanted to keep a needle out of my neck. Hope and faith are the cornerstones of my recovery. It’s essential to stay connected to that because positive feelings are feelings of reinforcement. I know that I’m going to be OK. There’s nothing I can’t handle as long as I stay sober.”
—Paulo Anthony Arranaga-Grayson, sober since October 7, 2015.
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