Well done on the bailing, but this part is also important: never forget that what is so important to us we are thinking about it almost 24/7 - addiction, alcohol, PN, how to get better - is completely alien to many of your friends. Very few people understand "addiction", and won't give it a second thought. Your friends most probably have all forgotten about it by now, today. So the most important person there is you, and your actions are what counts. And you did the right thing.

_______________________________________________

On a personal note, I'm most probably (99%) joining a (currently regional) non-profit organization that tries to facilitate helping addicts find ... help. I have my first meeting tonight, and it seems I "hit the jackpot", as their goals are extremely close to what I believe needs to happen: a genuine collaboration between all the addiction groups (AA, Al Anon, CBT, rehabs, detox facilities, self help groups, there is a myriad of them), "stabilized addicts" (who have the T-shirt...), government (local and national), the mental health world, and the medical world - all on an equal footing. In short it's a platform that will ensure a constant and serious communication between all those players, and ideally will become the first point of call for people (addicts as well as family/friends/employers etc) who are looking for help.

I am super excited, and it seems mutual. I have been reading up on all the material (this project started 6 years ago and is finally ready to actually get going next month, the initial hurdles were gruesome, as everyone of course was 100% convinced their was way the only way...), and I will now meet the players (or at least most of them, about 40 in total (!) for the first time (although I already exchanged about 20 emails with some of them, all very welcoming and enthusiastic.). There are doctors, neurologists, people from local government, mental health, the military (!), hospitals, youth protection, AA/NA people, people from the media/TV (who want to produce a series about helping addicts...), lawyers, etc. I can see this getting quite big, as it's unique, and our government already knows about it and would like to see it grow as a state wide initiative (and even set an international example... ahem), as it totally fits their political goals.

It's all non-profit for now, but there's a real possibility - if I fit in - that it could lead to a real job within that org. But that is not my main goal: which is to do something useful, and "pay it forward"/prevent people hitting the same walls I hit when I was searching desperately for help.

Due to my qualifications (humble brag ), they already have some big plans for me (board of directors... ugh... ), but if I learned one thing from my crash/addiction, it's to "take it easy". That will be my mantra before anything else. I can't help people if I crash myself again (!).

All it took was to look up a few pages on the internet, and place 1 (one) phone call, to get the ball rolling... Out of the thousands of people I could have called, I stumbled upon the guy - a 65 year old recovered alcoholic - who set the whole thing in motion and is still leading the effort. What are the odds? We hit it off from the first minute, and could almost finish each other's sentences...

Worst case scenario: I don't feel at home there, but in that case will have made direct contact with 40 people in the area who are voluntarily or professionally working to help addicts - and are all looking for volunteers. It's a win/win really.

Pretty excited...

To be continued...