This past Saturday I celebrated 6 years sober. This time of the year always brings up so many mixed emotions for me. A lot goes through my mind, choices I have made, things I’ve sacrificed, relationships that have been lost. My sobriety has brought me to where I am today, it has made me a husband, a father, a friend. It’s easy to imagine where I would be right now if things hadn’t changed, and much harder for me to believe how amazing my life is these days. You see, being a drunkin’ drug addict was easy. Up until 6 years ago my life only revolved around me. Responsibilities were far and few, expectations were low if any, and planning for the future, well lets just say I was living in the moment.
I have never been super transparent about my sobriety over social media, but this year was a little different. I was proud of how far I have come and wanted to share that with others. Let me just say “holy shit!,” I was so overwhelmed by all the praise and complements that flooded in. You might be curious why, but don’t worry I’ll explain.
When I first got sober it was like this huge deal, I had been drinking and using hard drugs regularly since I was 13, so it’s easy to be on top of the world when expectations for yourself are so low. But over time that “pink cloud” of newness and happiness dissipates and your stuck thinking, “well, what next?.” It’s no longer good enough to just be sober, nobody killed it at life just being that awesome sober guy. You have to move on and grow, or guess what, you’ll probably just go right back to those old bad habits. I am one of the lucky ones I suppose. I met my best friend only a few weeks prior to my demise who gave me much more than a shoulder to lean on during those inexplicably hard times. A couple years later she became my wife.
“So Adam, what does any of this have to do with breastfeeding?”
Well, honestly I have no clue! I guess if I had to draw a distinct line between this subject matter and being a supportive husband to a nursing mom, I would say that no longer thinking of myself as the #1 priority in my life has been the most rewarding gift sobriety has given me. My wife and children depend on me, ME! How crazy is that!?! All the things I have done and been through, inspires me to go above and beyond to ensure that the man I am today, is someone I can be proud of, someone a wife can love, and someone whose kids can look up to and strive to be like. Nothing else in life matters, and I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to experience being a supportive husband to my wife, and a loving father to my kids, something I never dreamed could be my reality.
We would love to hear from you, what has been the major challenge you’ve encountered in your process of becoming a better man, a better father?
Be sure to join us in our social media accounts to be up to date with the progress of our project!
And… Don’t forget to share your brelfies using our HT #BreastfeedingWorld
–
[col1]
[/col1]
[col2]
[/col2]
[col3]
[/col3]
A photography project founded in late 2014 by Alexia Garcia, photographer a Alegares Photography. Breastfeeding World aims to promote breastfeeding and encourage new moms to nurse their babies through the art of photography and story telling.
