{"id":2733,"date":"2019-04-24T15:17:48","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T15:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recovery.stigmaunmasked.com\/?p=2733"},"modified":"2019-04-24T15:17:48","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T15:17:48","slug":"man-on-a-mission-embraces-life-after-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/faith\/man-on-a-mission-embraces-life-after-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Man on a Mission Embraces Life After Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By: Michelle Kaufman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For around 30 years, Andy Ray battled one form of addiction or another. After waking up in 2015 in the hospital after his third overdose, a friend asked him if he was done with his life on drugs. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He wasn\u2019t sure he was, but he said yes anyway. With only a few clothes to his name, Ray entered the Muncie Mission.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, Ray has a vehicle, holds down two jobs and has his own apartment in the Mission\u2019s transitional housing program, which targets recovering alcohol and drug addicts. He has a roommate, who also is a graduate of the program.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis moves you toward doing what everyone else does, pretty much every day,\u201d Ray said. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou know, normal people. Getting that sense of, \u2018Oh I gotta make these payments.\u2019 It is something during my addiction, I didn\u2019t worry about,\u201d Ray said. \u201cI bounced around. When rent came due, it was time to move.\u201d<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong><em>\u201cI made a six-figure income and I ruined it all because of my addiction.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><br><br><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These days, Ray serves as a mentor to men currently going through the program.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI know what a difference it can be if you follow through on this,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not something I read in a book. I lived it for decades, so I know the difference.\u201d<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most people have a stereotype of what an alcoholic or an addict might be. \u201cI was functioning,\u201d Ray said. \u201cI worked at a company for over 20 years. I made more than most. I made a six-figure income, and I ruined it all because of my addiction.\u201d <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ray says the Mission\u2019s transitional housing program gives people the privacy they need to grow independently with the emotional support system of the Mission still nearby. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for this place, I\u2019d probably be dead,\u201d Ray said. \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t came here and went through what I have to make the change in my life &#8230; The last [overdose] about killed me, I\u2019m sure the next one probably would have.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Michelle Kaufman For around 30 years, Andy Ray battled one form of addiction or another. After waking up in 2015 in the hospital after his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-2733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","tag-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}