About

About Rich – From Addict to Coach

My Path To Addiction

I’m getting ahead of myself. I want you to know how and why I became an addict. You need to know I’ve been in a similar place as you have. So how did I become an addict? Some of the career paths I explored included working jobs straight out of high school and believing that I could be successful and self-supporting without a college degree. I was successful in doing that. My job with a medical products manufacturing company, working in the clean-room, then the warehouse, eventually led to doing clerical work within production and inventory control.

I also got more involved in using both legal and illegal substances to change the way I felt. I was able to hold everything together for a while, but eventually my use of substances became more important than anything else in my life. Unmanageability started to manifest itself in several ways, including being late to work or not showing up at all, the inability to control my using, a complete lack of self-esteem or self-worth and, along with it, isolation.

Does This Addiction Path Sound Familiar? My Next Steps Will, Too

I learned about the employee assistance program at work and how it could possibly help me with my drug problem. I took advantage of it and found myself in rehab for a month. I was able to return back to my job and the trailer I called home. Rehab had taught me about 12-Step meetings and how I needed to integrate these into my life in order to stay free from substance abuse. I found a meeting that I went to every day. I found a sponsor and started working the steps. I got through the first three steps. I continued celebrating longer increments of clean-time. I managed to get a year free from using. Fear of the rest of the steps led me to justify that I didn’t need to work them. I thought I had my addiction under control. I mean, I got a year under my belt, right?

I got into a romantic relationship with someone who was still abusing substances. I told myself that I could just be around it without giving in to using it myself. Turns out I was very wrong. It was not long before I was abusing again. The relationship went on for a couple of years before I decided I had to get out of there. At this point, I had already sold my trailer and had no job. No unmanageability there right? What a joke! But I didn’t see it. I called my brother with my tail between my legs; he and his wife allowed me to move in with them, find a job and start getting my life together again.

The Recovery Road Meant Starting Over

At this point I was about ten years out of high-school. I had thrown away the best job I had ever had. I was starting over with lower pay and no place I could call my own. I decided that maybe college wasn’t such a bad idea after all. I made a phone call to my dad to see if he might be able to help. This was a huge dose of humiliation for me since I had refused to ask for his help with anything for the last ten years. I was going to prove to him that I was worth something and that I could do it all on my own. That would make him love me! I was so angry at him because he didn’t love me. He loved my brother, the guy who did everything right. I was a reject!

I need to clarify that this is all my perception at the time. None of these statements have any validity today. They were my reality because I believed they were true. My self-centeredness led me to blame my brother, my dad, my work, my situation, and everything and everyone else but me for the shame that I felt and the feelings of never being good enough.

So I humbled myself to ask dad for help. He offered free room and board while I went to school. I could work a part-time job and do school part-time. The next nine years of my life became a quest for a college degree. That little piece of paper that would make me acceptable to employers and finally earn the love of my dad. It would be enough to give me the validation I wanted so I didn’t feel ashamed of everything I had done in my life so far.

I got a decent job as a junior developer while I was still working toward finishing my bachelor’s degree in computer science. I got an even better job fixing software glitches in computer video card display drivers. I got a house for the first time ever. But then I got caught in a post 9/11 downsizing.

I researched Calyco healing and found that Carolyn Cooper offered classes on how to do it. I took the basics course and it taught me how to clear my chakras among other things. It was a prerequisite to taking the intensive training course on how to do the full method. At some point, Carolyn decided to rename Calyco healing to SimplyALIGN™ and this is the method that I learned in the intensive and I use today.

Heading Toward Rock Bottom

What did that corporate downsizing mean for me? It was the first of many steps in my downward spiral. On unemployment for the first time. Doing school full-time to finish up my degree. Alcohol became my long-lost friend, but just on weekends. “Maybe I should work for myself!” Did Primerica for a while—didn’t work. Did Herbalife for a while—didn’t work. Finally found another job in the software industry. It was software quality assurance instead of development. Didn’t really want it but felt I had to. Unemployment wasn’t enough to pay my bills and dad was getting tired of supplementing my income.

While working there I came across a book called “Rich Dad-Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. It revolutionized my thinking. It really got me in the mode of wanting to own my own business again. I remember thinking “If I just do what he did, I’ll be as successful as he was.” So I maxed-out my credit cards to take classes so I could be a real estate investor. I ended up with a run-down duplex in a poor area of town. I wanted to believe it was a good investment. I couldn’t keep tenants that would pay rent. Bills piled up. Drinking became a daily routine. The only way I could keep numb, from feeling despair. Go to work, go to the liquor store, go home and drink. Repeat. More unmanageability and a downward spiral. Finally made it to rehab again.

Ended up losing the job. Went back on unemployment. Focused on recovery. Started studying the law of attraction. Eventually read a book by Leslie Householder, “The Jackrabbit Factor.” Bought and studied more of her materials. She mentioned a technique that could help me with many of the things I struggled with: Anger, addictions, anxiety, depression and fears to name a few. It was called “Emotional Freedom Technique.” Tried it but really didn’t know if it was working for me. Then ran across a note from Leslie of a method she found that worked better and quicker, a modality of energy healing. Felt like this would be a great supplement to my step work in recovery. Found somebody to do energy work on me. I felt like it was working to clear up some of my issues but I really wanted to be able to do energy work on myself whenever I wanted.

I researched this type of healing and found that Carolyn Cooper offered classes on how to do it. I took the basics course. It taught me how to balance my energy (among other things). It was a first step to taking the intensive training on Carolyn’s SimplyALIGN™. This is the method that I learned and use today.

I really feel like the Divine stepped in and made it all possible to get me the training I needed to help myself and others with energy work. Again, I look at it as an extension of my recovery rather than a replacement for it.

What Recovery Means For Me … And For You

How has this path — and the SimplyAlign™ Method — helped me? I no longer suffer from low self-worth. Doing energy work has given me the courage to share details of things I used to be ashamed of. These are steps in my recovery which I’m now happy to share without the fear of being rejected. I live in gratitude, joy, hope, faith and trust. I have the ability to walk in courage instead of running from fear. I feel good enough today.

If my story sounds familiar, if my path gives you hope, please schedule an appointment to talk to me. Because if I can get out of the downward spiral I was in, if I can change, you can, too.

I look forward to joining you on your recovery and healing journey.

Sincerely,