“My daughter said, ‘My daddy used to be sick but I’m so happy he isn’t sick anymore.’
I can’t tell you what day it was or who she was talking to when she said that. All I know is those words stuck with me.
She knew before I ever explained to her what addiction was. She knew I wasn’t okay.
She knew her daddy was sick, but she loved me anyway. And all that matters to her now is that I’m better.
Trust me, I understand how hard it is. I’m not saying it will be easy.
I was in the grips of my addiction and nothing else mattered. I didn’t even matter.
But you have to find your worth. You have to put yourself first or everything else will fall to the side.
The perfect analogy is this… when you’re on a plane and it’s going down, they always tell you to put your oxygen mask on first before your children. You can’t expect to help anyone else if you can’t help yourself first.
We have to hold ourselves accountable. We have to make change now so our future generations don’t have to experience the suffering we’ve experienced from addiction.
Put the drugs down. Put recovery first.
Love yourself. Love your children. Because if you don’t, they’ll spend their entire lives looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Hunter Shepard. You can follow his journey on Facebook. Submit your own story here, and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.
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