I was insecure.
I doubted myself.
At times I even hated myself.
My grades were my only value and when those began to slip I suddenly felt like I had no purpose in life.
Going into high school drugs and alcohol became my new best friend.
They eased the anxiety of test taking and homework.
I had no social skills.
I had no healthy coping skills.
I didn’t know how to talk about my feelings.
I felt alone.
I dropped out in 9th grade, became a teenage father and my drug and alcohol addictions took over.
For the next 10 long years I went from casual user to everyday heroin addict.
All the dreams and aspirations I had of growing up to be a professional baseball player at 5 years old vanished like a thief in the night.
This is my story, and as grateful as I am to be writing this to you today clean and sober for many years away from all drugs and alcohol and a successful business owner, husband, and father….
Similar stories are happening to millions of people all over America & the world.
Those who do “make it” and graduate to higher levels of education are forced into choosing their career path at 18 years old and taking on tens-of-thousands of dollars in personal debt (before their brains are fully developed to make life-altering decisions of that magnitude).
The American Dream for us is camouflaged as “opportunity” when in reality we’re simply preparing to become slaves to debt and work the next (and best) 40 years of our lives to pay it off.