I was born to a family of five with an addicted father. When I was a child my father died, and my big brother married and left us. My other brother, I remember, went to prison.\u00a0Suddenly, I found myself in front of a mountain of problems. These problems from my childhood caused me a lot of aggression in high school. I was full of fear and stress that my family would end up poor.<\/p>\n

After finishing high school, I went into military service\u2014 my country was involved in a war. I was wounded. After the completion of the war, I started working. I had to work hard to pay for university and my family too, but I felt fatigued, and my tired spirit disturbed me.<\/p>\n

I wanted something that would calm me, soothe my scars, and my spirit.<\/h2>\n

After my first drink of cherry alcohol, I got that feeling of relaxation but soon found myself sinking in a bog. Then, my wife left me. Now,\u00a0I was lonely, penniless, and frightened. I saw myself in full darkness.\u00a0One day, I saw one of my old friends in street. I was homeless, so I tried to avoid him, but he smiled at me and said, \u201cSaeed, wait. Hello! How are you getting along?\u201d I told him I lost my job. Then he said we could go together to look for a new job if I wanted. I accepted because I didn\u2019t have any money. He took me to a place where there were people who took me into their arms and talked to me about the hope and purity of recovery. I don’t know why, but I had tears in my eyes.\u00a0They invited me to come back, and now, after 9 years (take that!), I\u2019m clean.<\/p>\n

I still have problems, But the difference is my attitude. Today I don’t solve problems with things. Today, I help myself through a higher power: my sponsor, meetings, and the 12 Steps. Today, my attitude towards life has changed\u2014 I am positive and strong!<\/p>\n

I have scars that tell a story of a life that wanted to destroy me but failed<\/h1>\n

With best regards,<\/p>\n

Saeedreza<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saeedreza lives in Iran, and he hopes his story can inspire someone else to make the hard change that he did.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

If you would like to tell your story, email empowerstn@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was born to a family of five with an addicted father. When I was a child my father died, and my big brother married and left us. My other brother, I remember, went to prison.\u00a0Suddenly, I found myself in front of a mountain of problems. These problems from my childhood caused me a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n