the past three years

the past three years in my life have very eye opening.
to start this story off right ill have to go even further back, I'm 23 now.

When i was 18 i was at the peak of my heroin addiction, and for anyone that knows this deadly addiction it was literal hell, i had stolen money from anyone and everyone i was close to just to get a fix. If i had to add it all up(and i have) i would say in about a three year span of time i spent close to 50,000$ on opiates.

Now i'm sure you're thinking right now, how in the hell can a teenager come up with that much money?
Let me be the first and probably not the last to tell you that anyone with an opiate addiction will do anything and everything to get a quick buck, i did many things i am not proud of, a few that went against my morals and two that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

How did i kick that habit? SIMPLE, i got locked up, 4 felonies, a couple misdemeanors and two very disappointed parents. you know what the worst part about it was? the fact that my family didn't trust me at all..

I had a choice, i could either sit in jail for the next 20+ years of my life get out and keep doing drugs, OR make a change.
so i decided to call my mother and my attorney, i told her to take out all my college funds, saving, checking account, sell anything and everything in my possession that was of any value and find a rehab that will actually help.

two days later i got a phone call from my attorney telling me my mother had found a place up in the middle of nowhere in Hamlin, PA, i didn't know it at the time because i was scared but that place saved my life and gave me a chance to start all over again.

Two months into rehab the judge that originally sentenced me gave me a call and told me that if i am willing to comply with all the rehabs rules, drug testing and counseling that he could drop all of my charges down to misdemeanors so naturally i complied. Two months after that i was released from the rehab and moved into a sober house, kept my nose clean and did anything and everything the judge asked me to do. if she said jump, i jumped. if she said kiss his ass, you better believe i'm kissing her ass because even though the charges where dropped down i wasn't out of the woods yet.

eight more long months went by and i finally got my year sober, 6 months after that i came back to my second to last court hearing to hear the judge tell me that not only were all my charged dropped down but that in three months they will all be expunged and completely wiped clean from my record.... now i do not suggest ever doing this because it got guns drawn on me but i jumped out of my seat in the court house went up to judge (i'll call her judge T for anonymity sake) and asked her if i could hug her, and i got that hug.

That last court date i walked in with my head held high in my best suit and got to have a heart touching talk with a judge, the same judge that almost sentenced me to 20 years in prison, that exact judge looked me in the eyes and told me how proud she was to see someone so young do everything in his will power to better himself, and honestly i started crying.

My parents trusted me again, i had my life on track, money in my bank that i didn't want to blow on drugs and a new sense of self,

from the age of 18 to the age of 23 now, i have overcame a deadly addiction, became the man i knew i could be, earned my families trust back, bought a car, a house and now i am successfully day trading crypto currency, doing personal training, and living the life of my dreams. if you would've told me i would be here four years ago i would have probably laughed in your face and called you a dumbass, but i did it.

i guess the moral of the story is to never give up, because you never know what a year (or three) can do to your life, and as long as you have a set goal you want to accomplish and you're willing to do anything to accomplish that goal than you can do it.

sincerely,
-phil