I’d developed an addiction to speed when I first started my career as a financial analyst. I was keeping ridiculous hours and was in the proverbial pressure cooker from day one. I obviously never wanted to develop an addiction-I don’t think anyone really does-but I just needed something to keep up with my job. I knew I needed some sort of affordable drug treatment option when I first started messing up at work due to my inability to focus, but ignored my inner voice for almost a year after that. All of my colleagues, family and friends noticed changes in me after a very short time, and I found it harder and harder to hide the truth . . . but that didn’t stop me from trying for as long as I possibly could.
My speed abuse started about four months after I began my new job. I wasn’t ready for what this lifestyle was doing to me. I was used to working hard, but not all the time. The seventeen-hour days were killing me, on top of which I was starting to get depressed and anxious over the fact that I either couldn’t hack it or made the wrong career choice. These are two more things that I addressed in my affordable drug treatment program. One night, at the tail end of my regular day, my boss came in and told my team we needed to stay late that night. Nobody seemed worried except for me–I soon learned why. I noticed two of my team-members take a pill, and asked what it was. They told me it was speed, and that it really helped to get through these kinds of sessions. As the low man on the totem pole, I couldn’t say anything, so I decided if you can’t beat them, join them.
From that night on I abused speed consistently for a little over a year—it didn’t matter if I worked forty hours or eighty hours. I was able to get things done and keep going, and never wanted this feeling to end. Unfortunately whenever I wasn’t high, I was anxious, confused, angry, nauseous and in pain. I found it impossible to concentrate on my job, which is what really made it clear that I needed help. Once I almost lost my job over a colossal error I made that cost my company almost $1.3 million, I knew it was time to get help for my drug addiction.
I called my cousin and came clean about my problem, and asked her for help finding a really good treatment center. She told me about a friend of hers that got clean going to a luxury drug rehab program in Florida. The luxury drug rehab my cousin told me about was located in very beautiful and sunny Palm Beach, Florida. I contacted them and left to start at their luxury rehab that same weekend. They first had me me go through their detox center to get me clean before I could start any formal treatment that included a lot of in-depth counseling sessions. The entire experience and accommodations were first class and very impressive.
I completed my treatment about six months ago, reluctantly leaving their beautiful Florida facility behind me and returned home. I happy to say that I have been working every day now on rebuilding my career and ever more importantly my life. I know in life we usually aren’t given many second chances; I know I was lucky enough to get one and I am definitely going to make the most of it.
