A lifelong musician, Kevin’s descent into addiction began simply enough. After all, performing in bars and other venues serving alcohol was common, and drinking had been part of his life for some time.
As the years progressed, however, alcohol “slowly grew to be a very dominant part of my life,” he shares, admitting that in many ways, addiction caught him by surprise.
“Alcohol is a legal drug, and I think it’s easy for people to underestimate just how dangerous it is,” he says, noting that the physical aspects of his addiction were among the most difficult. “Before treatment, I needed to drink hard alcohol every day, from the moment I got up. I couldn’t just ‘detox’ without help, and I ended up in the hospital having seizures.
Until then, I don’t think I realized just how serious this dependency can be.”
When he arrived at Renascent, at first he wasn’t sure what to expect. “I just didn’t know what to do,” he admits. “There is humility involved, but I felt privileged to be in a place where they were going to show me the way out. I was lucky to be there with a really good group of guys, and the counsellors made all the difference in the world. The fact that they’re all in recovery themselves lent credibility to what they said.”
Following his time in treatment, Kevin committed to attending 90 meetings in 90 days, protecting his recovery even when working, and finding a sponsor. He was touched to learn that his sister had donated to Renascent without his knowledge, simply because she also believes treatment saved his life.
“At first, I didn’t think I could do three days without drinking, let alone three weeks,” he reflects. But in a moment of clarity a month into his recovery, he realized just how far he had come.
“It was a long weekend,” he recalls, “and on Monday the liquor store was closed. Previously, this would have required a special trip to ‘stock up’ in preparation – but the long weekend came and went, and I realized I hadn’t even noticed.
It is true freedom, no longer having that dependency.”
