LETTER: For Montco Man, Beating Addiction Is A Daily Miracle

The following letter to the editor has been submitted by Montgomery County resident Erik Hurvitz. To submit a letter to the editor at Patch, please email justin.heinze@patch.com.

It sounds cliché, but every day I don't take a drink or use drugs is an absolute miracle.

Addiction brings you to places that you don't want to go, to do things that you don't want to do. Eventually, you don't even want to use the drugs that you are addicted to, but you cannot stop. When the pain became paramount to all other interests, when the only decision I had left to make was to seek recovery or die, I chose to seek recovery.

To accurately describe how recovery feels, one must understand gratitude. If I can remain grateful for the things in my life, recovery feels great. Every single day I wake up and I don't have to feel the way I felt in active addiction, I have something to be grateful for.

Going forward I plan to continue to grow in any and every capacity; whether it be my spirituality, my personal life, my professional life, or my family life. Progress is necessary to keep my disease at bay. That is why I got involved in recovery, to continue to grow every day. I would encourage anyone who is struggling to find resources, such as the We Do Recover Movement, reach out to them, and ask for help.

-Erik Hurvitz

Submitted photo