Michelle Thöle joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Michelle is the author of My Journey Through Darkness, a true life story of an ordinary young girl who records her journey as a drug addict.
Omar: Do you remember how old you were the first time you drank, or used drugs? And more importantly, how they made you feel? That first time?
Michelle: Yeah, I was 14 and I started smoking, and about at the age of 16 I started going to a lot of parties with the older crowd of kids. We lived outside a big city, we were in a small town. So, we had a lot of house parties. I mean, I remembered nights where my folks would come pick me up at 11 or 12, which was my curfew, and my mother would try and cover for me, because I was stumbling to the car. So, that was the beginning of drinking.
But I must say, I was always very, very afraid of drugs, because I was always kind of fascinated by it. So, I'd read a lot of books about it. You know, the usual trainspotting and basketball diaries. So, I felt very educated, and also very scared of it. I always used to say, and I guess this is so true when we think of the phrase, "the power of the spoken word," because I used to say, "I never want be introduced to drugs, because my curiosity will get the better of me, and I'll try it, and I'll become a heroin addict."
Yeah, what happened was I did end up becoming a heroin addict many years later.
Omar: What is the best suggestion you have ever received?
Michelle: Well, at the time, I must say it seemed very abstract, but it was actually the best suggestion I ever received. It was when I was in London, but also feeling like there's just no hope, no solution, nobody can help me. I went to see a drug worker, from the Hillsong Church actually, or counselor. She listened to me, and we spoke, and I was so expectant to have some kind of answer. All she did was say to me, "I want you to go home, and I want you to go and sit before God, and get into his word again, and find out who you are in him."
I was like, "Oh, that sucks. I thought you were going to help me." You know? That's not a solution. But later on, I understood what that meant. Even now in my life, I've been through other things in the last few years, which are totally not drug related, but also very big battles. Every time, I realize when I get quiet, and I go sit at God's feet again, I realize that I lost that thing of who I am in him. I'm not seeing myself through his eyes, I'm seeing myself through the enemy's eyes. So, I am weak. I am pathetic. I am useless. It's those lies that make us unable to fight any battle, and that's where the enemy wants to keep us.
So for me, the best advice I ever had was go and find out, and go look for it. Who you are in God.
Omar: If you could give our listeners only one suggestion, what would it be?
Michelle: Never give up. I guess having a fighting spirit is extremely important. I know I have to give one suggestion, but it goes hand in hand. What we've been saying along is surrendering. Surrendering is key for me, and I really say that with regards to not only my recovery from addition, but in terms of coping with everyday life. Surrender. Surrender to God.
Brian McAlister joins us today on the SHAIR Podcast. Brian is a bestselling author, motivational speaker and the founder of Full Recovery Wellness Center in New Jersey. Brian is dedicated to helping recovering people achieve spiritual, personal and financial empowerment.
Brian’s commitment to helping others recover from addiction and reach their full potential is his life’s mission. From a low-bottom unemployed alcoholic and addict to leading a workforce of 1,800 people producing nearly half a billion dollars in annual sales is just a small part of Brian McAlister’s journey.
Husband, father, entrepreneur, best-selling recovery author and coach, Brian subscribes to the spiritual axiom that with God all things are possible. He maintains an active role in the recovery community through his workshops and as a sought-after motivational speaker on the subject. These accomplishments are an example of the miracles that have taken place in Brian’s life. Miracles he believes can be taught, learned, and duplicated.
Annie Highwater joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Annie is the author of Unhooked: A Mother's Story of Unhitching from the Roller Coaster of Her Son's Addiction. This memoir follows the experiences of one mother who started her own life in a neglected home and came to realize how those experiences both helped and hindered the hardest, most heartbreaking, yet illuminating changes of her life, her son's addiction to opiates.
"I am the mother of an addict. I'm in recovery as much as my addicted son is in recovery.”
Annie learns to understand that her own dysfunctional family upbringing influences her reactions. She is a fighter, never gives up, and digs deep into her past’s successful and unsuccessful strategies, including finding several treatment centers, the good and the disappointing ones. She sets boundaries, enlists resources, and finally moves through her life with determination and acceptance.
As the country struggles to address the issues of the rampant epidemic of opiate abuse and addiction, this story is especially relevant in helping us all understand the personal challenges facing parents and family members and how family dynamics both help and hinder the recovery process.
This is a short read designed to help families in recovery and open up conversations.
Jason MacKenzie joins us on the SHAIR Podcast. Jason is a dad, a husband, an author, public speaker. His website: The Book of Open, is geared towards helping men become stronger, wiser, and more courageous fathers
Jason is an expert on peak human performance. He’s a father, speaker, author and coach. He teaches audiences around the world how cultivating vulnerability will liberate the strength, wisdom and courage we already possess.
He is a survivor of his wife's battle with bipolar disorder and subsequent suicide and has overcome a decade-long battle with alcohol. When he stopped running from grief and fear he became the husband and father his family deserves.
His driving purpose is to help lift those who want more from their lives to increasingly higher levels of personal and professional performance. Jason is a strength-finder and works with you to help you ask powerful, affirmative questions about what's best about you and your life.
His mission is to show you that you are inherently successful and then stand back and watch you fly.