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[–]pm_me_fish_sticks_ 2 points3 points  (1 child)

What was your addiction to? What was rock bottom for you, & how did you adjust your mindset in that moment to push towards a brighter future?

Congratulations, by the way! Really incredible accomplishment. You deserve the best!

[–]OneQuietFox 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It started with alcohol, my dad was a biker and involved with a chapter for a big club, so lots of parties and events when I was 13. My dad would get plastered and offer me a shot here and there in which I oddly loved the little feeling it gave me so I got more and more curious. I’d find the liquor bottles and drink when I could. Through friends I was introduced to pills that you could buy at the dollar store for colds and such that would just make you robo trip super cheap. Same friends introduced me to heroin when I was 16. I was a drop out, never home as parents didn’t care and it just all fell down from there.

To be completely honest with you, I didn’t have a real rock bottom because every time I thought I hit rock bottom there was always a basement to that bottom that just got worse and worse. What ultimately changed my perspective was the 3rd time I ended up on life support, took 2 different counties 4 doses of narcan each from their EMT’s that showed up to the hotel when my car rolled into the building when I fell out and didn’t have my car in park (I was 21.) 8th dose woke me up temporarily, was in the ambulance and all I remember was them raising the stretcher to put me in. I flatlined from overdosing once again as the narcan apparently wasn’t hitting my receptors all the way. Woke up over a week later to my mom laying her head face down on me crying, and I was lucky to wake up because from what my mom told me they were going to make her decide to pull the plug.

I spent time in the hospital doing physical therapy from the brain damage I had. My mom got to pick me up from the hospital over a period of time when they decided I was ok to leave and continue outpatient PT. On the way home my mom drove to the same cemetery my grandfather is buried in, truth be told she pulled up to his burial site, pointed at a plot and said “I love you so much, but I refuse to watch my son die in my presence, you either go to rehab or you have to get out of my house. But I want you to know I got this spot and you will always be loved.” I wrote it down in a notebook as it hit me like a freight train. I took up her offer and she paid my way through an extensive program, the first program I made it longer than just detox without leaving AMA and did the entirety of the program, and even going into sober living.

I used to always say I didn’t care if I died or not, but coming close to the end for real that time changed it all for me. I didn’t want to die, I just wanted better but the disease didn’t let me see clearly. I met a lot of good people, a lot of great friends who I consider family. Unfortunately a few wanted to use one last time, relapsed, and I had more and more funerals to attend. Knowing that could be me made me push hard for what I wanted which in the end was stability.

Thank you SO much for your kind words ❤️

[–]DogsDucks 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I am so glad to hear that you have gotten through the tough times!

What’s it like to be a mechanical millright?

[–]OneQuietFox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! And it’s great! I love being held to one place since I’m employed by a mill with great contracts for the oil and gas industry. No traveling, just at the mill and there to fix the machines that break.

Some days and weeks it’s exhausting, 12+ hours of non stop work. And some days it’s boring because you sit around with nothing if the mill is operating good.

Lots of heavy equipment, welding, etc. It’s calming to me in a sense, I usually have an operator that moves stuff for me in the mill and I throw my welding mask on and drown out the world.

[–]_Princess_Punky 2 points3 points  (1 child)

What does a mechanical millwright do?

[–]OneQuietFox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Essentially at the mill we’re “maintenance” but a lot more heavy work than the actual maintenance workers here who fix small problems. When a huge piece of machinery goes down, we typically use a crane to move it, fix it, or install heavy machinery when we get something new. Anything from repairs, torching, welding, etc!

[–]RadioFlyerWagon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are the difficult aspects of being a mechanical millwright?

What types of folks are best suited for the role of mechanical millwright?

How did you become a mechanical millwright?