I graduated from Our House in 2021 after being there for 13 months and by truly buying into the NA program and the ideas of “playing the tape forward”, and “one is too many and a thousand is never enough”. I was able to bring myself to a state of mind where I was comfortable telling myself and others that I am an addict choosing to stay sober, that I may want to use still, but cannot anymore. With the help of my counselor and the staff I was able to get to where I am today and can be comfortable around my family or friends when someone is drinking at a dinner, while camping or whatnot, because I know I cannot do that anymore. I am comfortable telling people that I cannot use and explaining why. It took practice and being very safe early on in situations to make sure that if I felt tempted, I had a way to remove myself from the situation and get somewhere where I could recognize the triggers and work my way through them.