fbpx

Get Help Now

(207) 679-5005

Eleanor Trask

My lifestyle during active use was very dark. There were no limits as to what I would do to obtain my next high. I had used every substance in any manner that I could. I was a human garbage disposal. I was incapable of feeling comfortable in my own skin. As the years passed by, I was not chasing the high anymore, I was chasing the escape from myself. My soul was empty and my will to live was long gone. As bad as it all was, I would not change one single thing about my past.

On November 9th, 2015 I chose to surrender. I could no longer live the way that I had been. I found my way to a twelve-step meeting feeling defeated. I raised my hand with tears in my eyes and claimed my seat. I told them that I did not want to live this way anymore, but I did not know what to do or how to do it.

Following the meeting, many women approached me and provided me with a meeting list that had their names and numbers on the back. I finally was willing to do whatever it would take to stay clean, one day at a time. I contacted the women on that list, I attended meetings regularly, I bought the literature and read it, I got a sponsor and did the twelve steps with that sponsor, and I chose recovery every day 24 hours at a time.

Today, I am grateful to be alive.

I participate in that 12-step program and do service for them at many different levels. I volunteer cleaning up downtown Portland with an organization called Young People in Recovery. I have gone into jails and institutions to share my recovery story and to give back what was so freely given to me. I have helped place people into detoxes all over the state while volunteering for Operation Hope. I am a Certified Recovery Coach. I have been asked to speak all over the country to share a message of hope and the promise of freedom.

The daughter who I had abandoned for three-and-a-half-years, the one who at one point called me by my name, is at my house four days a week to do distance learning and today calls me Mom. She presented me with my four-year medallion.

I had to wait two-and-a-half years into my recovery before I was able to have my first overnight visit with her. It was worth the wait.

The bachelor’s degree that I failed to receive after attending two semesters and flunking out, I have now redeemed myself by returning to school only to achieve A’s in every single class upon my return.

The credit score that I destroyed in active use I have brought up over 200 points since I have started my new life. These things are only a small fraction of the milestones that I have achieved.

Today, I am a mother, a student, a volunteer, and a daughter. I am employable. I am a goal crusher. I am a dreamer. I am a person in long-term recovery who is a productive member of society.

My name is Eleanor, and I love who I am today.

Related Articles

Join us to amplify hope!

Join the movement to make recovery stories, resources and programs visible!

Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Quick Links

HELPFUL LINKS