My name is Romil, and I have been in recovery from addiction since June 13th, 2013. I had a fairly normal childhood; however, I always felt out of place. I felt as though other people had an instruction manual to life, and I was never given a copy. I had my first drink when I was eleven, and I finally felt as though I had found a solution to all my problems in life. Things quickly started to snowball from there. I started smoking weed in middle school and taking pills shortly after. Soon I was intoxicated everyday, and any day that I wasn’t felt unbearable. I tried heroin for the first time when I was in tenth grade and became a daily user soon after. I lived life only to get high, and all other parts of my life fell to the wayside. I felt hopeless and that there was no escape. 

Life became unbearable. After four years of using heroin intravenously, I reached out for help and started my journey in recovery. For the next few years, I was in and out of treatment centers, having a few months of sobriety here and there but nothing long term. Finally, I had had enough and entered a ninety day treatment center and fully committed to a 12-step program. This program gave me the tools to not only deal with my addiction, but also to navigate through life. I became honest with myself and others and made amends for harms I had caused in my past. I became someone that other people could rely on and found friends who only wanted the best for me. Most importantly I became someone that could look at himself in the mirror and be proud of who I was looking at. 

Today I have been sober for over five years, and my life is beyond anything I could’ve hoped for. I graduated school and am working at a job I love going to every morning. I have a great group of friends around me and have rebuilt my relationships with my family, which are stronger than ever. I am very grateful for my life today. As long as I continue to keep my recovery first, and give back to the community that has given so much to me, my life continues to get better and far exceeds anything I could’ve ever hoped for.