Service Array:
Individual Skill Development and Enhancement
Wellness Management

I was born in northern Minnesota, 45 minutes from a paved road in a tiny log cabin my dad built. That log cabin was struck by lightning when I was six weeks old and the cabin burned to the ground. My parents relocated to Stone Lake, Wisconsin and that is where I grew up on 120 acres without electricity, an indoor toilet, or running water.

My parents loved me and did what they felt was best to protect me, but they did not prepare me for life away from them. My dad owned a logging business and I worked with him from the time I was 15 years old until I was 21 years old. At that time he lost his business and I lost my employment and sense of security. My dad slipped into depression for many years. I flounder, not knowing what to do.

At 22 years old, I was excepted to UW Barron County. My thought was to pursue a career in psychology. However, after two semesters, I found myself hanging out with the wrong people and drinking heavily. In the third semester, I failed all my classes. I just stopped to go into them. I was so far behind and uninterested.

As a means of supporting myself, I decided to sell drugs. After a year and a half of doing that, a swat team was dispatched to my house and knocked the front door in and turning everything upside down, hauling me and my girlfriend away. I was now homeless and didn’t know where to turn. My dad got a call that I had been evicted from my house and he showed up one day to see if I needed anything. I wanted more than anything not to need his help so I told him I was fine and I would let him know.

After being arrested, I was put on probation and mandated to do therapy at the Aurora clinic in Spooner Wisconsin. I hated it with a passion and continued to drink. During that time my anxiety was so high, I would randomly cry and struggle to catch my breath. It felt like there was a refrigerator resting on my chest. After six months of the therapy, I stopped drinking and continued the therapy for another 12 months.

When I was 26, I picked up alcohol again, and many hard chips came as a result. I became a stepdad at when I was 28 years old and then had a second child when I was 29. When I was 34, I became separated from my wife as a result of alcohol.

It was incredibly excruciating to realize that all this pain was preventable if I had just made the choice to leave alcohol and live sober. I decided that that was the last straw and that I would never drink again. I realize that alcohol is poisonous, and the likelihood that it will harm you is too high of a risk to mess with.

After becoming sober, I realized that I was meeting the most awesome people, and I was actually thriving, but I had to hang in there for about a year before I started to see the good results of my life blossoming.

My goal is to share my experiences with others in an attempt to divert them from the suffering that I experienced. To also help those that have experienced the same suffering and show them how to make positive changes.

This individual is an Independent Contractor through Shred Shed.