I Found Myself at
Narconon Colorado
For the previous 4 years, I have struggled with depression and severe substance abuse issues. These things go hand-in-hand and kind of feed each other. I started heavily drinking my freshman year of high school and then started smoking weed. That then lead to heavy psychedelic use, taking various prescription drugs, and eventually becoming addicted to cocaine. I had gotten to a point where I would use pretty much any drug I could in order to escape from myself and escape reality. I started stealing and lying to my parents. I started purposely harming myself and I ended up having a rather serious overdose.
My life revolved around drugs. I got to a point where I didn’t know who I was, and I truly didn’t care. Then, I realized that I needed to ask for help because this was a battle I couldn’t fight alone. I knew if I tried, I would either end up dead or in jail. My parents and I sat down and picked out a place for me to go and made it happen.
I walked into the doors of Narconon Colorado on Friday, June 12th and started my withdrawal process. In the withdrawal step of my program, I learned that I could make it for 7 days without drugs, something I never thought was possible. I took a bunch of vitamins and started eating regular meals and sleeping normally again.
After withdrawal, I moved onto the New Life Detoxification program, aka the sauna detox. In sauna, I worked out and sweated it out every day. I was able to get my body and mind cleared out and I got a lot of my sense of smell and taste back. I got flooded with emotions again and I was able to get my memory and energy levels improved.
After sauna, I moved onto the Objectives, where I learned that I could go through uncomfortable situations without using drugs to escape. I also learned that I could confront my emotions, other people and situations in life. I also learned how to communicate again with others. In the Objective processes, I learned how to stick with something when I want to give up, I learned to be in the present moment, which was something I spent the last 4 years trying to avoid, and I learned skills to navigate my addictive personality. I also learned how to help someone else get through some very difficult things.
After Objectives, I moved onto the Life Skills courses. In the Ups and Downs course, I learned how to identify destructive people in my life and get them gone. In Personal Values, I corrected my personal ethics problems and learned how to take responsibility for how I’ve harmed myself, my family, and society as a whole. This was a really challenging part of the program for me because I had to confront cravings and I had to confront things I’ve been running from for so long. I was able to come to terms with the things I did and finally allowed myself to move forward. The Changing Conditions course is where I learned that things in life are always changing. A tree is either growing or it’s dying and the same goes for people. In this section, I learned how to identify where I am in life and how to make a plan to ensure I keep growing.
After completing the Narconon Program, I would like to share the new me. I am now a sober, honest, ethical, and strong person. I have no doubt that I will be able to face anything life throws at me without needing drugs. This program has restored my confidence, my pride, my ethics, my strength, and my true self. Thank you so much to all the staff and directors that guided me through this journey of self-discovery, recovery, and renewal.
K.P., Narconon Colorado Graduate
