TRUE FREEDOM
What these three local clean and sober individuals value most at every stage of recovery
BY PAULO MURILLO
HAVING A CHOICE
“I love the ability to be present for what God has in store for me—to be actually useful to the world around me. If I can’t help people with the things that have been challenging to me, then what good is it? I love to encourage people because, frankly, we’re all just looking for some love. Before sobriety, I never knew I had a choice. I thought there was no fucking way I’d get sober. Now, I feel amazing. About a year ago, I finished two-and-a-half years of EMDR trauma work; it was a thorough house cleaning at another level. At 37 years sober and 61 years old, I just needed to dig a little deeper. Because of that, I’m the best I’ve ever been.”
—David Miramontes, sober since December 10, 1984.
PEACE OF MIND
“What I love most about recovery is the opportunity to learning how to be more authentically myself. At ten years sobers, I like being more and more comfortable in my own skin and learning how to love myself. I get to discover parts about myself and I like evolving, and having those ‘aha’ moments when I just rediscover things about me. I also get to change, and evolve. I think the changing and evolving in recovery is what I love more, actually. We get to change and evolve the longer we stay sober. Ten years ago, I think that my only love for recovery was just not dying and not being in psychosis. What I loved about recovery then, was not having that constant fear. That’s what I recommend most about sobriety. There’s a peace of mind that you attain. Your head gets quieter, that’s for sure. In early recovery, your head is so loud so staying sober means you have more peace of mind and your head gets quieter.”
—Edwin Sanchez, sober since October 14, 2015.
LIFE CAN CHANGE
“What I love about being sober is that every day brings something new. I love that I feel in control of my life. I love that I feel optimistic. I love that I get to show up to a job, that I like, that appreciates me, and that I don’t have to lie to people anymore. My life used to be messy. There was lots of deceit. I was unstable. There were a lot of highs and lows. There were a lot of moments where I’d get the gifts of sobriety and then I’d throw them away and have to start over again. There were a lot of weird living environments, a lot of trying to put the lipstick on a pig and, you know, a lot of pretending everything was good and internally it was not. And then that quickly became external. I disappointed people, I had a lot of self judgment, and fear, ultimately leading to not caring about anything, including living. The best thing about sobriety is that the admission is free. I recommend it to anyone. It’s amazing how quick your life can change when you decide to ultimately get sober for yourself. And like I said, admission is free.”
—Kyle Edwards, sober since July 20, 2025.
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