181 - Noah didn't get straight A's in treatment, but he is thriving!

Real Recovery Talk

“My mom was my biggest enabler and as soon as she took her foot off the gas pedal my life came crumbling down around me. That’s where the biggest change and growth came from.” -Noah

Today, Ben and I are chatting with Noah, who was 20 when he received his first DUI. His parents kicked him out of the house after this event. Forced to attend AA, his grandmother took him to his meetings. Not understanding the program or the benefits of completing the 12 Step Program, Noah wasn’t an engaged participant in the program when he first started his road to recovery.

Events that Led to Noah Receiving His First DUI

“Me and my mom would get into it over anything and everything,” explains Noah. He would fight with her about little details and would refuse to help out around the house. Noah liked his work pattern: go out to drink, come home, and repeat this daily pattern. Although his mom was encouraging Noah to seek help, he didn’t believe he had a problem. “I was living life the way I thought it should be lived.” He didn’t see his alcoholism because he found that many of his friends lived the same type of lifestyle, so Noah normalized his way of life through others.

His Life Post-DUI

Losing the ability to be independent and drive himself to where he wanted to go, Noah soon realized the humiliation that accompanied losing his privilege to drive. “I had all this freedom to do what I wanted and then suddenly it was stripped away.” Sitting at his parent’s house, his mom caught him drinking. She sent him to a nearby detox center to clean up his act.

Relapse Patterns and His Struggle to Become Sober

Not feeling like he belonged in treatment, Noah wanted to fast track to the next step so he could get home and live the way he wanted to live. Putting on a show and not being his genuine self, Noah refused to dive into what he needed to do to become a sober member of society.

After going through his first detox treatment in his hometown, Noah ended up back drinking alone in his room. His mom sent him back to detox again.

Listen in and find out why the crowd at the detox center affected Noah’s ability to get clean, what happened when his mom wouldn’t let him live at home, and why Noah was kicked out of recovery.

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Show Notes:

[03:33] Noah’s first DUI, which led him down a negative spiral of life events.

[04:20] What led Noah’s parents to kick Noah out of their home.

[05:53] His life after getting kicked out of his parent’s house post first DUI.

[10:34] Noah struggles through multiple attempts at recovery.

[14:42] What happened after Noah left his first detox treatment in Illinois.

[17:21] His mom reaches her breaking point and doesn’t allow Noah to live with the family again.

[21:01] Ben explains recovery capital and the reason for living after addiction.

[22:12] Rehab romance and why it didn’t end well for Noah.

[26:11] Noah was asked to leave on administrative discharge because he wasn’t progressing through the addiction program.

[28:59] Ben tells mom to stop paying for all of Noah’s mistakes.

[31:37] Noah regresses back to drinking after this fourth time in recovery.

[34:13] The importance of pulling the plug and not enabling your addict.

[41:49] Why a support group is needed to hold each other accountable.

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Podcast editing and show notes by Pro Podcast Solutions