How did you get into it? I started at 14 with friends, during parties, because it was fun. I grew up in a beach town, so it was a norm to drink.

There’s a reason why “young and reckless” is a phrase. My ex-boyfriend was the embodiment of “young and reckless”. Going to college I’ve seen so many students right before my eyes partake in excessive drinking . . .

I absolutely despise alcohol–and with good reason. Maybe that’s a good thing perhaps? Many people around me think I’m not “fun” for not participating in party culture or having a couple drinks.

I lived with my parents and my sister. My mother neglected me for as long as I can remember. She favored my sister and I never knew why she did not like me. There were times as a pre-teen where she would kick me out of the house and I had to spend the night at my grandma’s house.

Hello my name is Carlotta and I want to share my story on when I started drinking alcohol. I started when I was 14 years old and it was when I invited some friends over.

I was a smart kid and a good kid, but I always felt like a fish out of water. Discomfort in my own skin was my normal, and by the time I hit puberty, it became social anxiety.

“I was introduced to drugs by my mom”. Words can not describe the pain in her face when Julia tells her story of addiction. Today at the age of 21, clean from drugs for almost a year, she has had to work very hard to get herself to this point.

We will call him Peter. He comes from a land far, far away. As a child he resented his parents for forcing him to leave his friends and family behind in his homeland.

As I sit here reflecting on my story, a calendar on my desk indicates that I have been sober 2,105 days. Time in sobriety has gone by so fast.

“I am almost 50 years old and proud to say I have been clean for 15 years”. Let me introduce you to Shawn, handsome, spiritual, successful. When he speaks one thinks he is a wiseman and has lived a life of truth and wisdom.