Holistic alcohol treatment made me aware of the interconnectedness of my mind and body, and was instrumental in helping me beat my dependency on alcohol. Until I enrolled in my residential therapy program, I never would have even considered herbal medicine, meditation, or any of those types of things. I went about my life thinking “holistic” was just another word for “unproven”, and completely discounted the fitness and wellness benefits of the concept. It took developing a three-year-long drinking problem for me to recognize natural treatment as a valid form of addiction recovery therapy. It opened my eyes, and my mind, to a great many things on which I was missing out in life. For instance, I was never a religious person, but became aware of spirituality’s role in personal wholeness during my program, and am now more aware that there are some circumstances I just can’t control, and turning to alcohol during high-pressure situations is an incredibly destructive practice.
I started drinking as a means to alleviate stress. I can draw a clear line from the death of my mother to the development of my drinking habit. My rehab program enabled me to address the root causes of my addiction to make me an all-around more self-aware person. It was a very stressful time in my life-there was a lot of money for which I was responsible, and it seemed like everybody had their hand out. My father had died years prior, and I had to do the bulk of my mother’s estate planning and execution on my own. It took over a year to sort out her affairs, all the while I had to maintain my regular job, running my parents’ company. During the year following her death, I started to drink two glasses of wine right before bed to help me sleep. There were also lunches, meetings, and general conversations where cocktails were the icebreaker, no pun intended. My journey toward holistic alcohol treatment started the minute I couldn’t cope without alcohol.
At first I thought I could handle it-lawyers, rival companies, and disingenuous family members were things I’d grown to accept as part of the territory when you get a little bit of money. I believe my dependency on alcohol started because I was never allowed to properly grieve. The minute the priest “committed my mother’s body to the earth”, and even before that, I had to shift right into crisis mode. My wife advised me to take a vacation, and let someone else handle things for a bit. If I’d listened to her, I might have never needed alcohol treatment at all. Nevertheless, I was convinced I could make short work of my mother’s probate logistics, and find time to grieve afterward. What was supposed to be a few weeks lasted over a year-I’ll spare you the details, suffice it to say that there were some people who thought they were owed money but weren’t, and they took legal action. If I had the capacity to relax and take things as they come that I now have after holistic alcohol treatment, it might not have been so bad. Unfortunately, I did not, and the whole process turned out to be a nightmare.
Eventually it got to the point where every time the phone rang, I was looking for the bottle. I didn’t even realize it at the time, but much of the next three years were spent with a drink in my hand, like it became an extension of me. I was becoming a stranger to my wife during what was supposed to be one of the most fun times in life for a young couple without any kids, and felt like I was losing control of everything. Rather than recognize that alcohol was the culprit, and seek treatment, it felt easier to use it as an escape and blame everything else for the state I was in. Don’t get me wrong, I had real problems, but alcohol simply exacerbated them. At this point holistic alcohol treatment still wasn’t even in my mind, but I knew that I needed some kind of help after I had one of the worst weeks of my life.
My wife’s car was in the shop and she needed me to pick her up from her art class one afternoon. Of course I forgot about this and began what had become my usual routine of steady drinking from around 9am, on. The day was a complete disaster from the start; I was due in court over a matter regarding my mother’s estate that still hadn’t been resolved, and then had to be in the office at noon for a conference call. I went to both while noticeably drunk, and made a real mess of things. While I was sitting in the office, umpteenth drink of the day in hand, I got a call from my wife asking me where I was. A bell went off, and I rushed to my car to pick her up. When I got there, she could see how drunk I was and was shocked that I’d even driven my car at all. She attempted to coax my keys from me. I told her I didn’t have time to argue, and forced her into the car. When we got on the highway I swerved to pass a car and veered into the oncoming lane, causing a head-on collision. My wife wasn’t conscious and I was scared out of my mind. Although I was not thinking specifically about holistic alcohol treatment, I thought at the moment that if she woke up, I would do whatever I had to do to get better.
She was unconscious for the next few days, but by the grace of God woke up and made a full recovery. I told her that I’d do whatever it took to quit drinking if she would just give me another chance, and that if I ever disappointed her again she could leave and take everything I had. It was a very emotional scene. Four days later, I checked into luxury treatment center in Palm Beach. After completing detox I could officially started my holistic alcohol treatment.
The physical, emotional and spiritual self-awareness that this form of therapy and counseling gave me has turned out to be priceless, and has helped me to stay away from alcohol and learn to relax naturally. I’m now two years sober, and incorporate the fitness and meditation aspects of my natural treatment program into my daily life. I am feeling twenty years younger as a result of emotionally and physically becoming whole again. I am also feeling much more prepared to take on the challenges of my job and my life again.
