I Have Won the War Against My Addiction

For 7 years I have had a problem with alcohol addiction. I came to Narconon in extremely bad shape. People around me did not recognize me. I had family issues and I was on track to destroy everything I had built in my professional life. A couple of times I managed to stay away from alcohol for a short time, but I always returned to my drinking. I even had sessions with psychiatrists in Skopje, that viewed my addiction as a disease that had to be cured with medications. I had enormous will to put an end to my addiction, so I accepted the treatments from the psychiatrists that included sedatives and anti-depressants.

Then I got a recommendation for Narconon. Somehow, I knew that it was a great opportunity to gain back control over my life. I knew that for a certain period I would have to withdraw from my work and the way I was living so that I would have the chance to succeed.

I was surprised when I found out that the Narconon program did not include any medications—only vitamins and minerals, combined with healthy and regular nutrition.

I felt improvements on the first day. After the first assist I received, the pictures that showed up when I closed my eyes disappeared. Regular walks in nature, in combination with the Objectives, brought me back to reality. During the period I was in withdrawal, my weight decreased by a couple of kilograms.

Then came the detox—the time in the sauna. It was fantastic. I improved physically, and the redness on my skin disappeared. My high blood pressure went back to normal and my expanded belly decreased. One day, I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed that my eyes were sparkling. The yellowish color in them had disappeared. Most importantly, I was feeling happy. I saw that the Narconon staff had an understanding of my condition. There were no insults, no pessimism and they did not perceive me as a menace to society, as the psychiatrists had.

Then came the drills for improvement of my communication skills, control and intention—these are useful to anyone, regardless of whether he is an addict or not. These drills prepared me for the Objectives. I knew that nice things would happen, but I had not imagined how much I would improve and also find out about myself. My sense of touch came back. Not that I did not have it before, but with the Objectives, it was much better. I realized things about my life—things that I considered that I had performed exceptionally well, but for which I actually hadn’t, such as listening to other people. I realized that I was listening to them, but not completely and as a result, I did not fully understand them.

With the completion of the sauna and Objectives, I am rehabilitated mentally and physically. However, the challenge to never go back to being an addict remained.

The next steps of the program were to prepare me for life after Narconon and they did not disappoint. I learned how to recognize people I did not want in my life, but also the ones that I should not exclude. I made an analysis of the people around me, but even more important—I have gained the tool with which I can recognize the people that I need in my life in the future.

One day the Supervisor at Narconon told me that I would not have needed a rehab program if I didn’t have issues with my own ethics. I knew that this was the truth, but I had not realized how unethical I actually was. I looked at my actions from a completely different aspect. I have learned that being ethical is not just myself doing incorrect activities but also failing to prevent others from doing them. I have identified situations in my life that were very onerous for my happiness, and I had no clue that they were actually destructive to me. I have learned how unmanaged issues, can come back like a boomerang, even years after the event happened.

But, when unresolved issues come back, they are much more intense. I had the habit of leaving problems to be forgotten about as time goes by. In reality, they only seemed to vanish. The part of the program related to ethics had a great impact on me. I have noticed that I have been correcting my typical bad behavior. I am more careful about what I say and how I say it. My consciousness in relation to what is right and what is wrong increased on a much higher level. At the end of the section on ethics, I was absolutely serene, as I knew that I would be more attentive to my ethics in the future and that I would not allow things to happen to me, as they happened before in my life.

The plan for the future was the last step in the program. An extremely important and applicable tool, with which I learned how to identify the conditions in which I was in different aspects of my life (personal success, family, work, society, etc.), but I also learned how to improve those parts of my life.

All in all, I am impressed with by each part of the Narconon program. I no longer have the slightest doubt that I have won the war against my addiction. I am enthusiastic about how will I improve the quality of my life on a higher level. Now I can be an active and useful member of my family, work, and society, and to contribute towards a better life for everyone around me.

My successes would not be possible without the people working at Narconon, who are fully devoted to the rehabilitation of addicts. They believe that each person can better himself and can be re-integrated into society—they do not perceive addicts as unwanted pests.

Honestly, I am grateful to the entire staff of Narconon Balkan: Deki, Rade, Monika, Saska, Nece, Macko, Toni, Nora, and Sofce, as well as all other students who were there for me during the entire program and who helped me to become a much better and much happier person than the one that they welcomed a couple of months ago.

N.R.—Narconon-Balkan Graduate