Today we have Jace Downey joining us on The SHAIR Podcast. Jace is a sex addict. She spent the last 15 years living a double life. She destroyed her life so many times, and finally decided to end it. She hated myself. She read the self-help books, tried trial and error experiments to get better and was seeing multiple therapists. Nothing helped or made any sense. She was destructive, a bad friend, selfish and a complete mess. The idea for suicide didn’t come from a place of dramatic depression. It really just seemed like the next best step.
“I was miserable; I made those around me miserable, and the only people who liked me didn’t know me at all. I just couldn’t go on doing it anymore. I wanted to turn to the escape I had used so many times in the past, but I couldn’t do it. The urge to evade the pain I was feeling was so overpowering that I began to wonder. If sex releases chemicals in the brain similar to that of drugs, could it be just as damaging?
This question prompted me to do a little research before making the big final decision.
Like a flash of light in a dark room, my world was illuminated. I read deeper and discovered I was definitely not alone and that there was a solution.
I joined a recovery program that week, and for the first time in my whole life I felt like I belonged somewhere. I was home.”
Join us now as Jace takes us through her battle with Sex Addiction and her inspirational Journey into Recovery.
On today’s episode of The SHAIR Podcast we have Buddy C. joining us. Buddy battled with alcoholism for 6 years. During those 6 years his wife was ready to leave him, he developed pancreatitis and spends 6 weeks in the hospital undergoing 2 surgeries. He managed to survive these two surgeries and as soon as he got out of the hospital starts drinking again.
Buddy would then chronically relapse multiple times until he finally surrenders to recovery and ultimately finds God. Today Buddy is a pillar in his AA community living his life entirely in service to God. He has found his purpose in life and that is to help others on a daily basis. Buddies story is nothing short of a miracle. Join us now!
Do you have a favorite book that you would recommend to a new comer that you read in early recovery?
Practicing the Presence of God - Brother Lawrence
If you could give our newcomers only 1 suggestion, what would it be?
Jump all in, don’t hold back because as long as you hold back, this will not work. That’s been my experience. As long as I thought I had any part of the solution at all, even a little bit of the solution, it didn’t work for me no matter how much I wanted it, how much I needed it, it didn’t matter until I was able to say, “God, I am powerless. I cannot do this. If it happens, it’s going to be you.”
Until I was able to say that and along with the, I remember when I prayed the prayer, ‘God work your will in my life regardless of what it takes.’ When I prayed that, it started happening, it started happening, when I could sincerely say that and that took 6 years of getting beat up, and I hope it doesn’t take you 6 years … some people it takes longer and there’s, some people come and get 1 white chip and they’re done. Man, it took 6 years for me to say, “No, I can’t do it. I’m letting go.” I held on for that long and so I would say, just jump all in.
Today we have JR Hamel joining us on The SHAIR Podcast, the founder of Hope and Addiction, a blog where JR shares his experience, strength and hope. JR is married with three wonderful children. He has been struggling with Addiction and Mental Health problems for 23 years. He has undergone intense In-Patient treatment, Out Patient treatment and one on one therapy. JR himself has worked in the Mental Health field for 14 years before resigning to focus on his own recovery. He is now a stay at home father who has a new purpose in life, to share his story with anyone who will take the time to read them on his Wordpress Blog Hope and Addiction and maybe give others Hope with their own struggles in life.