Back in May when I approached Nick about telling his story, he took on the challenge of being an example of what addiction can entail and how people can battle adversity and succeed. I've known this man since 2003 in our days at Malden Catholic High School, never once would you have thought he was battling addiction and image issues. Nick was a confident young man, an athlete and a successful student, in an environment that groomed him to succeed in life post Malden Catholic

A drug addict’s life is very similar to a haunted house, and the saddest part is, it always leads you back to the same desperate place - the very beginning. How did I get back here? There are three possible scenarios for people suffering from the disease of addiction, and they are jails, institutions and death. The worst part is, drug addiction tends to keep you around just long enough so you can watch yourself - almost as a spectator - destroy all the relationships you have

There is something to be said for being completely removed from society for a month and a half with no means of communication to the outside world. The only dialogue I had was with people just like me, and they all had their own reasons for being in a treatment center. I think it is fair to say that nobody struggling with addiction or alcoholism grew up hoping their life would turn out that way. After all, this disease does not discriminate by age, race, gender, ethnicity or

I can vividly remember stepping off the plane in Florida and thinking to myself, “what did I just get myself into?” Before I could even let my imagination run wild, I was greeted by someone who worked at the halfway house I was going to be living at. I stepped in his vehicle with all my worldly possessions and we talked about 90s era hip-hop as we drove to what would become my new home. When I pulled up, all I can remember seeing was some girl braiding a white guy’s hair on a

Right up until this exact moment in my life when I graduated college, there was always a blueprint for what path I should follow. First it was to get situated in high school and figure out where I fit in and what my strengths were. Then it was to get into a decent college and obtain a degree in some discipline that would become my career. It wasn’t that I was forced into it, but since my parents were the first to go to college in their families it seemed like the logical trac

There I was, a recent high school graduate caught in the midst of a terrible heroin and crack cocaine addiction. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, and after taking a long look at this time in my life I am fully aware that the drugs and alcohol were never the problem. In fact, I believe whole heartedly that the drugs and alcohol were my misguided and selfish solution to the problem. I say selfish because I never once thought about how my choices were going to affect those aro

Before I continue on with my story I would like to mention that I was overcome with anxiety as I was brainstorming this installment in the series. A lot of these memories bring me back to a time in my life that was very dark, very lonely and very confusing. I am not writing this so the reader feels bad for my situation, I am writing this to let you know we all have our fears. Fear is a normal emotion, and in the animal kingdom fear often times keeps those lower on the food ch

Whenever someone asks me to describe myself, I almost always become confused and uneasy about what that question actually means. Do they mean my physical attributes? Do they mean the standardized test type questions that you can only answer with a #2 pencil? Do they mean I should describe myself how I think the world wants me to appear at certain stages of my life? Well in any case, I don’t really believe any of those options hold much weight if you really want to get to know

Over the past few decades, writers and psychologists have been focusing on the specific amount of time it takes to become a "master" at any given discipline. The answer that was widely debated, with many alternative points of view being released, was 10,000 hours. I don't believe this is the be all end all, but as a whole I believe it helps to give most people a solid jump off point to any new hobby or skill they would like to undertake. My point is not to deter people from t