Recovered Alcoholic’s Testimonial

I was brought up in Oak Harbor, Ohio. My parents, sister and I lived there through my childhood.
My Father received an honorable discharge from the Army at the end of 1968, after serving much of his time, during more than one tour of duty, in Vietnam. My Mother and her family moved to Oak Harbor, Ohio, not long before my Father came home from service. After his return, they met, dated shortly, married, and I was born the last day of December, in 1969. Which was also the same year that my mother graduated from Oak Harbor High School. My Sister was born on March 2nd, of 1971. My Sister and I were very close as children, playing together in the snow or leaves, and as we got a little older, we were in a couple of school plays together, and she and I were in a couple of different marching bands together, where I went from base drum to snare drum.
I loved the 80’s! Looking back, there was so much about the 80’s that I liked; music, records, movies, brat pack, MTV, clothing, hairdos, break-dancing, clubs, spray-on jeans, parachute pants, etc… And to name a few that were usually exclusive to you ladies like: leg warmers, tall hair, purple eye-shadow, etc… And 80’s lingo, such as: Like totally!, Like awesome!, Like oh ma’ god!, Like gag me with a spoon! – lol, etc… So, anyway, I had a blast! Most of the time.
However, after graduation, my plan was to take a year off from going to college; a break, one might say. Well, I graduated at 19; go figure. Then, I found myself working at Cedar Point at age 21, and still hadn’t gone back to school yet. Though, my new plan, prior to getting the job there, was to start school immediately after summer ended. That never happened. What was stopping me? I was hard on myself, too. I felt as though I was powerless over my lack of motivation, laziness, undisciplined thinking, or whatever it was. I did not know. I wanted to be like all the others that I knew, that had a choice of big and small, near or far away Universities. Instead, I was left with rationalizing to myself, and then others, for not being one of the successful students.(Like some of my friends.)
In March of 1999, I got into a car (Fiero) with a man that had been drinking and doing other drugs. As we were in route to the next bar, a 21 year old, birthday-girl, in a hurry and not looking, pulled out in front of our speeding car. (70 mph in a 35 mph zone) This accident resulted in the driver dying immediately, the girl fracturing her pelvic bone, among other injuries, and me paralyzed from the chest, down (including my arms and hands) due to shards of shattered discs protruding through my spinal chord, and a closed head injury/trauma, which caused a chemical imbalance. After 98% recovery through two surgeries, and learning how to walk again, during physical rehab., the insanity returned, and I found myself out drinking, again, 6 months later.
Clearly, I had issues from a young age, and mixed in with all this was the constant efforts to escape reality throughout my life. From Junior High, staring out the window/spacing out, to December 30th, 2001, ending my habitual escaping with alcohol and other drugs.
The day before my 32nd Birthday I began a journey of self discovery, taking inventories of myself, repeatedly over the years, with the direction of a sponsor and a twelve-step program. Just as the people in the 12-step program had said, I was not going to recover until I did the 12-step work of the program. But, the lack of motivation as a result of undisciplined thinking that kept me from my school work and going to college, was keeping me from doing the work of the 12-step program, too. Until I reached the point of loneliness that only an alcoholic of my sort knows, I wasn’t willing to do what it takes to recover. I was no longer capable of taking an honest look at myself, my drinking, my behavior and so on…which is the most important part of recovery; honesty. For this, I needed a sponsor, a guide; someone that had been where I was and had “recovered from the seemingly, hopeless state of mind and body”, described in their text.
During the first five years or so, of my recovery, I studied and added to the “God, of my own understanding” or “Higher Power, as I understood him”. The latter two years of my recovery I consistently studied the faith of metaphysics, when one day I was approached by a 1st Class letter, in a way that grabbed my attention.
Mark Hamilton and Family, The Neothink Society, and The Twelve Visions Party has meant the world, and beyond to me and mine. I’ve received psychological freedoms as a direct result of the integrated-honesty, based, literature that whirls throughout my mind, cross-referencing with my existing schema, as everything takes on a new light; I feel as though a veil has been lifted and I’m finally seeing through much of the illusion-based information in yesterday’s and today’s world.
In closing, I’d like to mention that the upcoming Twelve Visions Party will be the Party to end the ruling-class and make everyone rich, including the poor.
Thank You, Mark!!!
Sincerely,
Gene K. Wheeler