Growing up, alcohol was an accepted source of comfort in my family. I began underage drinking, which was tolerated on weekends and holidays. Weed and hallucinogens were my drugs of choice in High School, although I kept those hidden as best I could. I attended Christian High School all 4 years, but fancied myself a bad boy. Remember the “Bad Boy Club” t-shirts? At age 19, I spent almost 7 months in jail for robbery. I chose drugs over family and couldn’t afford Christmas presents that year. Hurting others became a rationalized and reoccurring theme. My priority was me, with both feet on the gas. The jail time hurt my pride. With good people around me and some counseling, I straightened things out for a few years. I put Jesus on my priority list and regularly attended church with my High School sweetheart who stuck by me. I gave up drugs, but still justified drinking, to my detriment. While Jesus was on the list, He certainly wasn’t on top, nor was my now fiancé. She got wise, there was something else I was married to, it was beer. I lost her and most of my jobs in my 20’s because beer drinking came first. I did get married in my 30’s, but a couple years into that my wife knew she was, at best, a mistress. I had chosen and would continue to choose beer and whiskey over anything and anyone in life. Divorced and devastated by age 36 , I acknowledged I had a problem, well, a drinking problem. I needed help, yes. Did I want that? Nope. I found pain pills enabled me to work through hangovers. I could also cope with the divorce of not drinking too. I had quit drinking! Woo-hoo. Within months, I was on a runaway train and then added cocaine. During this time I landed a dream job, which I was good at. I did all I could to keep it. But after 6 years somebody got wise, my boss! I was fired. Unemployment ran out and there I was, broke, broken, and a good 30 pounds underweight.

My journey to freedom from addiction began July 1, 2021, in a conversation with my father. In that moment God changed my heart. I desired to stop abusing drugs and alcohol for the first time in my life. I knew a lot about addiction, but very little about recovery. In the months that followed, I struggled to stay clean. I began counseling again and was encouraged to look in to Restoration Ranch. In April 2022, I decided to get help. In my first few weeks at the Ranch, I realized this was a serious program. This was good because the more I learned the more it became clear I had a serious problem. Coming into the program my idea of successfully completing it was to just get clean. The staff at Restoration Ranch showed me the goal is much bigger than that and for my future success it was going to have to be. I needed to take substances completely off of my priority list, put Jesus on the throne of my life to restore it and become sober minded. I needed support, I needed encouragement, I needed purpose. I needed to trust the process and fight a good fight of faith. I found that at the Ranch. At Restoration Ranch, recovery isn’t a business, it’s a ministry and a faith. The brotherhood that a lot of men have, I came to cherish. The mentors I’ve found and respect are willing to do whatever it takes to help me reach and attain sobriety. There’s joy in my life today because I came to Restoration Ranch. And for it I’m grateful!

Joel Z.