Client Update: Jamie S.
Today we meet up with Jamie again. Last time we spoke to her (read here), she had just accepted an opportunity to move into sober living.
Hey Jamie! So tell us about where you are now.
“I’m 234 days sober today. I’m really just the most stable I’ve been in over a decade, which is cool. I’m still living in sober living in Oshkosh. I’ve been here almost 7 months now. The community is great as far as sobriety and service involvement. I have a really good group of housemates. On August 1st I’ll take over as a House Manager here.”
What does ‘House Manager’ entail?
"Basically being the in between for the women living in the house and the staff members running our groups or “circles” in the house. I have the responsibility to hold others accountable and support them as best as I can.”
What’s motivated you to take this on?
“It was mentioned to me as an idea but I’ve been thinking about it pretty much since I got here. In the past, I’ve always kind of done what’s easy in treatment. In my brain what was going to happen was to get my 3 month extension here and go home to everything and just continue on. That’s what I’ve always done. I have definitely been actively trying to get out of my comfort zone here and focusing on working with others more. When others mentioned I’d be good fit for the role I actually took it seriously.”
It’s awesome to hear you taking a different direction this time. What achievements or milestones are you proud of yourself for now?
“Getting the house manager position, how much closer I am with my family, taking on all the service positions I have, and getting through my step work.”
What keeps you sober on the hard days?
“The main thing is just realizing my sobriety is not dependent on what happens in my life. If I just keep my routine and keep reaching out to others; as long as I keep doing what I’m doing, it doesn’t matter what’s happening to me externally. I’m also going to process the hard days a lot better if I’m sober.”
What would you say to your past self who was just starting her journey of sobriety?
“Basically that most people are there to help and I can’t rely on myself to do everything. I don’t know– I can’t construct for how I think things will work, people have been doing this for years, I can’t alter it to just get what I want from it. Just keep going at it, something is bound to change if you have support and you actually use it.”
Jamie’s message to the readers:
“Surround yourself with a community, whatever community you can, that will be supportive of your recovery process. Find people who will actually tell you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear.”
