Welcome to Celebrating Life In Recovery my name is Cheri. 00:00:11.02\00:00:13.77 Have you ever felt too crazy that maybe even God can't 00:00:13.81\00:00:16.52 help you? Not true! 00:00:16.55\00:00:18.07 I'm going to introduce you to a couple today that you 00:00:18.11\00:00:20.00 will want to kiss God on the face. 00:00:20.03\00:00:22.90 Come in the café and join us. 00:00:22.93\00:00:24.55 Welcome back, we are going to talk today about a number 00:00:52.62\00:00:55.14 of things, I'm going to introduce you to Dan and Angela 00:00:55.17\00:00:57.40 Clark and they're going to talk about their testimony. 00:00:57.44\00:00:59.99 They had a lot of things going on in their life, but what 00:01:00.02\00:01:03.23 got me when telling me their story, is how they dealt 00:01:03.27\00:01:06.44 with issues in their own relationship. 00:01:06.47\00:01:09.46 Co-dependency being one of them, and I know people hate 00:01:09.49\00:01:12.14 to hear that word, they don't know what it means, 00:01:12.17\00:01:13.96 what is it exactly? 00:01:14.00\00:01:15.34 I remember a couple come on over to my house and we 00:01:15.37\00:01:17.60 are doing marriage counseling. 00:01:17.63\00:01:19.08 They came over to my house and they were, I'm leaving, 00:01:19.11\00:01:21.87 I hate him, no matter what you say I'm divorcing him 00:01:21.90\00:01:24.63 and they didn't even like to sit together. 00:01:24.66\00:01:27.48 I have been sit on the couch and they were at opposite 00:01:27.52\00:01:30.03 ends of the couch. 00:01:30.07\00:01:31.20 Don't touch me, your on my half, it was like 00:01:31.24\00:01:33.88 watching these two little kids. 00:01:33.91\00:01:35.51 I then looked at this guy who has this rage disorder. 00:01:35.55\00:01:38.61 Vietnam Vet, he was sentenced for murder at 17 and they sent 00:01:38.64\00:01:44.95 him to Vietnam, I mean he has his horrendous background 00:01:44.98\00:01:48.27 with anger, but I realize that the marriage issues weren't 00:01:48.31\00:01:51.56 really his issues, it was her codependency. 00:01:51.60\00:01:54.19 So I turned around her and I said I think at least half 00:01:54.22\00:01:57.46 of the issue is you. 00:01:57.49\00:01:59.24 She looked like she was going to cut my throat. 00:01:59.28\00:02:01.66 She was so angry, she was wanting to pack her bags. 00:02:01.70\00:02:04.03 She said I come here and trusting you and you are 00:02:04.06\00:02:07.04 telling me that is my problem, and within a week they 00:02:07.07\00:02:09.75 were like newlyweds again but she had to look at the 00:02:09.78\00:02:12.92 fact that maybe the way she was responding to the world 00:02:12.95\00:02:16.24 around her caused her over, and over, and over again 00:02:16.28\00:02:19.53 be in these same situations. 00:02:19.56\00:02:21.30 Today we're going to talk about that, and if you are a 00:02:21.33\00:02:24.00 codependent don't hate me at the end of this, because 00:02:24.03\00:02:26.67 this is going to be good for you. 00:02:26.70\00:02:28.02 So I want to introduce you to Dan and Angela and I want 00:02:28.06\00:02:30.49 to say thank you so much for being on the program. 00:02:30.52\00:02:32.42 Thanks much for having us. 00:02:32.46\00:02:34.32 You know what I'm talking about, it's a hard thing. 00:02:34.36\00:02:36.38 Yeah I do, it is, it is! 00:02:36.41\00:02:38.08 Were going to get into that but first of all let's find 00:02:38.12\00:02:40.89 out who you are, where you are from, and Dan let's start 00:02:40.92\00:02:44.10 with you, I know that when I first heard your story, 00:02:44.13\00:02:47.27 I was like shut up that is intense. 00:02:47.31\00:02:50.18 Start out from being raised. 00:02:50.22\00:02:53.64 I grew up in West Land Michigan just outside of Detroit. 00:02:53.67\00:02:57.41 I grew up in a two-bedroom house with four brothers. 00:02:57.45\00:03:00.68 - you're kidding me? No was four kids in one room with 00:03:00.72\00:03:03.91 two bunks. - a mom and dad? Yes, mom and dad. 00:03:03.95\00:03:07.26 My mother was a hoarder, we picked up carpet everywhere. 00:03:07.29\00:03:12.15 The house was completely full and we had 00:03:12.18\00:03:14.51 trails through our house. 00:03:14.55\00:03:15.69 Just for somebody who doesn't know what a hoarder is, 00:03:15.73\00:03:18.75 I think I'm married to one. 00:03:18.78\00:03:20.29 So explain because it is a sickness. 00:03:21.50\00:03:24.37 Yes, yes my mother, she collected everything. 00:03:24.40\00:03:27.64 We picked up junk continually and brought it into our 00:03:27.67\00:03:29.85 house, old rugs that were urinated on. 00:03:29.88\00:03:31.87 My mother just wouldn't let us go by. 00:03:31.90\00:03:33.82 - so even like you said, there is piles in your house. 00:03:33.85\00:03:37.62 It was small enough but you had to 00:03:37.66\00:03:39.56 literally walk through that? 00:03:39.59\00:03:40.76 We walked through trails, we had a dog and the house was full 00:03:40.80\00:03:43.79 of fleas, the dog wet every where and it literally lifted 00:03:43.82\00:03:46.78 the tiles off the kitchen floor. 00:03:46.81\00:03:48.81 It was in terrible condition, when we had to take a 00:03:48.85\00:03:51.10 shower we had clothes in the tub and we took them out, 00:03:51.14\00:03:54.27 it was filled full of fish worm and silkworms and mold 00:03:54.30\00:03:57.40 growing on the walls, it was really crazy. 00:03:57.44\00:03:59.50 To me as I'm looking at you and you are talking about 00:04:01.53\00:04:04.19 this, is that I've had to work with people with that 00:04:04.23\00:04:06.70 story, when you walk in the house you don't want to say 00:04:06.73\00:04:08.94 anything and don't want to look shocked, but these kids 00:04:08.98\00:04:11.15 their normal day to day stuff is tragic. 00:04:11.19\00:04:14.73 You wonder what do you think of the world? 00:04:14.77\00:04:18.24 How do you walk out of this, go to school and then 00:04:18.28\00:04:20.34 walk back into this? 00:04:20.38\00:04:21.94 Oh man, I don't think I was conscious, I was so used to it, 00:04:21.98\00:04:25.51 it and that my mother had a nervous breakdown every 3 years, 00:04:25.54\00:04:29.03 years, so every 3 years, and she was schizophrenic 00:04:29.07\00:04:32.07 a paranoid schizophrenic, so every 3 years at 5 years old 00:04:32.11\00:04:35.49 I was literally bolting the windows shut. 00:04:35.53\00:04:38.09 My mother would say Dan, bolt the window shut, somebody's 00:04:38.13\00:04:40.32 going to come in. 00:04:40.35\00:04:41.53 I was putting screws in the window with a screw gun 00:04:41.56\00:04:43.83 at the back door and was thinking how would we ever 00:04:43.87\00:04:46.10 get out of here. 00:04:46.14\00:04:47.34 Then we will call my dad, because he worked out of town, 00:04:47.38\00:04:49.91 and I would say dad you need to come home moms having a 00:04:49.94\00:04:52.56 breakdown and then she would get undressed and run down 00:04:52.59\00:04:55.18 the street, and this happened every 3 years or so. 00:04:55.21\00:04:57.82 It was part of our normal life watching our mother go 00:04:57.85\00:05:00.42 into the mental ward and visiting her there. 00:05:00.46\00:05:03.22 It was pretty crazy. 00:05:03.26\00:05:06.10 I would like to say I'm sorry for what you saw growing up. 00:05:06.14\00:05:12.75 As a kid by the time you are any age at all, 00:05:12.78\00:05:16.52 the world is just skewed as far as your view of it. 00:05:16.56\00:05:20.00 What is real and what is not real, what's safe and what 00:05:20.04\00:05:23.11 is not safe, because even though you knew that your 00:05:23.15\00:05:26.15 mom was paranoid, there was that sense of urgency skewed 00:05:26.18\00:05:29.36 was always with you. 00:05:29.39\00:05:30.65 That is where I learned co-dependency. 00:05:32.19\00:05:33.77 I was watching my mom suffer and it 5 years old I was 00:05:33.80\00:05:36.98 saying, mom don't worry, dad's going to come home. 00:05:37.02\00:05:40.16 I was fixing her and I was making her okay. 00:05:40.20\00:05:42.14 - I want to take care of you. Yeah I want to take care 00:05:42.18\00:05:44.27 of you, and I would kneel down in front of her and say 00:05:44.30\00:05:47.80 mom, dad will be home don't worry I'll bolt up the house 00:05:47.83\00:05:51.29 really good and that was the life we lived out of. 00:05:51.33\00:05:54.54 Now if I can jump up to 18? 00:05:54.58\00:05:57.59 Before you jump up I want to say one thing because 00:05:57.62\00:06:01.44 I think Dan, it's amazing to me that you learned very 00:06:01.48\00:06:05.27 young to be very good at that. 00:06:05.30\00:06:06.70 Then people thank you for taking care of your mom, 00:06:06.74\00:06:09.66 and your dad I'm sure appreciate that you were there 00:06:09.70\00:06:12.59 and called him with all that stuff. 00:06:12.62\00:06:14.15 All your sense of who you are and your worth was around 00:06:14.18\00:06:18.91 whether you could keep this craziness at some kind 00:06:18.94\00:06:22.65 of a workable level. - yes, and I protected her. 00:06:22.68\00:06:26.00 If I'm brothers raised their voice I would literally 00:06:26.04\00:06:29.29 be in a closet with a pan, and if anyone raised their voice 00:06:29.33\00:06:32.30 too loud, their responsible for mom's mental 00:06:32.33\00:06:34.96 condition to my dad. 00:06:34.99\00:06:36.36 We learned to anticipate every move, that's a 00:06:36.39\00:06:38.38 codependent, always anticipating somebody's move and say 00:06:38.42\00:06:41.38 dad looks like he's going to get mad I better do this. 00:06:41.41\00:06:44.69 Your 10 steps ahead of everybody, whether it's real or 00:06:44.72\00:06:47.81 not and you're trying to fix, you're trying to keep calm 00:06:47.84\00:06:51.06 because my dad was very angry, he got explosive angry. 00:06:51.09\00:06:54.26 He would whip a glass at my mom's head, it just shattered 00:06:54.30\00:06:57.39 in her hair and we watch my mom pull out glass of her 00:06:57.42\00:07:00.53 hair and then she would come with a bag full of nail 00:07:00.57\00:07:03.64 polish and wept my dad on the head. 00:07:03.68\00:07:06.55 Then my dad he would sit in the hallway, this is crazy, 00:07:06.58\00:07:10.13 but he would shoot BBs. 00:07:10.16\00:07:12.24 - Well you haven't been crazy up to this point so... 00:07:12.28\00:07:13.71 this may sound crazy guys, but my dad used to sit on the 00:07:17.89\00:07:21.90 floor, and my mother was heavily tranquilized, 00:07:21.93\00:07:24.90 seriously tranquilized, stuff you wouldn't believe. 00:07:24.93\00:07:28.33 He would shoot BBs over her head to get her up in the 00:07:28.37\00:07:31.73 morning, he'd say get up woman, boom. 00:07:31.76\00:07:33.82 She'd say Mel quick firing at me. 00:07:33.85\00:07:35.84 I would go dad, dad, he'd say woman get up, boom. 00:07:35.87\00:07:38.78 It would ricochet off the mirror, and crack the mirror. 00:07:38.81\00:07:42.73 And we're dad, dad take it easy. 00:07:42.77\00:07:45.30 Get up woman and he would fire right over her head. 00:07:45.34\00:07:47.65 This is how we grew up. 00:07:47.69\00:07:50.71 What's interesting is, because I grew up in a crazy home, 00:07:53.33\00:07:57.39 it's even in a crazy home we say, and now this is crazy. 00:07:57.42\00:08:01.45 Everything you just said was crazy. 00:08:01.49\00:08:05.28 So that is your foundation? - yes! 00:08:05.31\00:08:09.07 Now you want to jump to 18? 00:08:09.10\00:08:10.99 At 18 years old what happened? 00:08:11.03\00:08:12.85 At 17 years old I took my first drink, and I was an 00:08:12.88\00:08:18.29 alcoholic from the minute I took it. 00:08:18.32\00:08:20.38 I don't know why, I felt so good when I drank 00:08:20.42\00:08:23.69 my first quart of beer. 00:08:23.72\00:08:25.31 May I just say, when I took my first drug, it was only 00:08:25.35\00:08:30.05 thing that ever felt normal to me. 00:08:30.09\00:08:32.06 Yeah, I felt completely normal and I wanted to celebrate. 00:08:32.09\00:08:36.32 I drank and I drank and I just loved it. 00:08:36.36\00:08:40.07 - It didn't matter all this craziness anymore, 00:08:40.10\00:08:42.60 I'm not a part of that anymore. - I was euphoric. 00:08:42.63\00:08:45.10 I remembered running through the snow and I was free. 00:08:45.13\00:08:47.60 I did know why, I just thought that. 00:08:47.63\00:08:50.66 - the reason I want to say that Dan, for people that are 00:08:50.69\00:08:53.16 watching that haven't been just sucked into drugs in that 00:08:53.19\00:08:55.63 way, is they do not know what is it that works. 00:08:55.66\00:08:58.92 Everything about it works. 00:08:58.96\00:09:00.95 For an alcoholic or druggie that's been through so much 00:09:00.98\00:09:03.73 dysfunction, when we find something that actually makes 00:09:03.76\00:09:06.64 us feel normal, it's like the solution has been found. 00:09:06.67\00:09:09.17 We've had other people on this program that have said 00:09:09.20\00:09:12.12 that, I felt like I found the answer to all my problems. 00:09:12.16\00:09:15.04 So I just want someone to understand that. 00:09:15.07\00:09:18.10 With this craziness, all of a sudden life is okay. 00:09:18.13\00:09:23.09 Yes, yes. - so you protect that addiction with everything in you 00:09:23.12\00:09:27.13 Yes, and I didn't want to be an alcoholic like 00:09:27.16\00:09:30.29 my friends, I thought were. 00:09:30.32\00:09:32.11 Because they drank all the time. 00:09:32.14\00:09:33.65 I had alcoholics that would drink with me every other day. 00:09:33.68\00:09:36.38 Or every couple of days and they would drink every day. 00:09:36.42\00:09:39.08 Eventually I got to where I was drinking everyday. 00:09:39.12\00:09:41.88 We were drinking cases, I was into beer then, we would 00:09:41.91\00:09:44.09 have a case in the middle of our car and drive around. 00:09:44.13\00:09:46.78 I would drink every single day and it felt so normal 00:09:46.81\00:09:49.42 until I got locked up. 00:09:49.46\00:09:52.01 I had like four felonies before I knew what happened. 00:09:52.04\00:09:56.09 Next thing I knew I was in jail and I thought how did I get 00:09:56.12\00:09:59.02 here? - that makes me laugh, when you come from such a 00:09:59.06\00:10:01.87 crazy environment it takes a while before you think, 00:10:01.90\00:10:04.68 I don't think this is working for me. 00:10:04.71\00:10:06.92 Yeah, exactly I had no idea, I was behind bars going 00:10:06.96\00:10:11.26 how did I get here? 00:10:11.29\00:10:12.94 People are yelling down the hall, and I was yelling down 00:10:12.97\00:10:15.23 there and my buddies were going you're going to be locked 00:10:15.27\00:10:17.49 up forever and you're going to rot in here. 00:10:17.52\00:10:18.95 You know I had no clue what was happening in my life. 00:10:20.44\00:10:22.71 I was just drinking and responding and reacting and 00:10:22.74\00:10:25.62 living life without any awareness or consciousness or 00:10:25.66\00:10:28.50 anything and as I got older. 00:10:28.53\00:10:31.88 I don't know if you want to go that far ahead? - yeah. 00:10:31.91\00:10:35.50 I got into pornography and different things. 00:10:35.53\00:10:38.92 - For a lot of people, and I'm sure that you know, and that 00:10:38.96\00:10:42.09 is a part of it, the whole world brings in our sexuality 00:10:42.12\00:10:45.22 and who we are in all those areas. 00:10:45.26\00:10:47.51 What is hard about drugs and alcohol and dysfunction, 00:10:47.54\00:10:50.89 being all on the table, is who we are sexually gets 00:10:50.92\00:10:54.23 so twisted, it really does get twisted. 00:10:54.26\00:10:57.32 It was really twisted for me and I remember talking in my 00:10:57.35\00:11:01.10 church, I remember trying to express that I felt like... 00:11:01.13\00:11:04.84 Wait a minute, where did church come in? 00:11:04.88\00:11:06.96 I'm like wait a minute we are in jail, and now in church. 00:11:08.55\00:11:11.64 So church did play a part in your life somewhere? 00:11:11.67\00:11:15.39 Yes, yes actually I grew up in a real strict, I call it 00:11:15.43\00:11:19.78 sin based religion, and it was very strict. 00:11:19.81\00:11:23.47 We sat in the back of the hall, we were among the church 00:11:23.50\00:11:26.20 goers that were weak, we were the weak churchgoers 00:11:26.23\00:11:29.26 so we sat in the back. 00:11:29.29\00:11:30.42 As I got older I left the church and then I returned to 00:11:30.45\00:11:34.99 the church, full-fledged and I was going to 00:11:35.03\00:11:38.00 serve God with everything. 00:11:38.04\00:11:39.50 - I'm not going online, stop doing the porn. 00:11:39.54\00:11:43.89 Yeah, yeah that was pretty crazy, I used to throw away 00:11:43.92\00:11:47.14 porn and then get back out the garbage. 00:11:47.17\00:11:49.10 One minute it was, I felt bad and I would even scream, 00:11:49.13\00:11:52.93 sometimes, I recorded myself, after a sexual thing 00:11:52.97\00:11:56.64 and I wanted myself to know how horrible it was. 00:11:56.67\00:11:59.48 I tapped myself. - I don't want to be here anymore. 00:11:59.51\00:12:02.28 Let me just, I want to drop in, I don't want to interfere with 00:12:03.82\00:12:07.06 what you're saying, but I just want to say what I learned 00:12:07.10\00:12:10.17 about God through all that craziness, in the middle of 00:12:10.20\00:12:13.39 the ugliest stuff we are involved in, that He is crazy 00:12:13.43\00:12:16.71 about us and wants to somehow take that kid that was 00:12:16.75\00:12:20.22 trying to get their mom not be crazy, to find their 00:12:20.25\00:12:23.69 safety and stuff in Him. 00:12:23.72\00:12:25.93 Even through all your pornography, I just want to say, 00:12:25.96\00:12:29.96 did you get a sense in any real way that God was there? 00:12:29.99\00:12:33.28 Or was it just a shame based religion at this point? 00:12:33.32\00:12:36.48 At that point it was just a shame based religion. 00:12:36.52\00:12:39.59 When I tried to tell people all I got was blank stares. 00:12:39.63\00:12:42.67 - somehow you are a nut? 00:12:42.71\00:12:45.21 Yeah, you are a nut, and people would back off. 00:12:45.25\00:12:47.84 I even had certain things removed and in some 00:12:47.87\00:12:50.39 organizations you have privileges, you can read the 00:12:50.42\00:12:53.16 Bible, or you can do different things as far as being 00:12:53.19\00:12:55.90 involved in the church. 00:12:55.93\00:12:57.70 Well once you have mentioned that you have this sexual 00:12:57.73\00:13:00.03 problem, they take those away. 00:13:00.06\00:13:02.60 Let's put a little note on the calendar here 00:13:02.63\00:13:04.64 and let's work on it. 00:13:04.68\00:13:06.36 What bothered me the most was I felt I was the only one 00:13:06.40\00:13:10.21 in this whole 5 million church that had this problem. 00:13:10.24\00:13:14.01 I really did. - nobody talked about it? 00:13:14.05\00:13:15.81 Nobody talked about it, nobody, I didn't hear anybody say 00:13:15.85\00:13:19.51 I struggled with that too. 00:13:19.55\00:13:21.24 So I felt like I was the only one, so what happened to me 00:13:21.28\00:13:25.64 was part of me, after you get enough privileges removed, 00:13:25.67\00:13:30.00 then you feel bad. 00:13:30.03\00:13:31.87 Then you say, boy if I talk about this much more I'm going 00:13:31.91\00:13:35.13 to be disfellowshipped or whatever. 00:13:35.16\00:13:37.22 Anyway what happened to me was I come compartmentalized, 00:13:37.26\00:13:40.00 I actually developed a split personality. 00:13:40.04\00:13:42.27 One part of me was in the church smiling and the other part 00:13:42.31\00:13:46.32 was involved in the sexual misconduct, more pornography. 00:13:46.36\00:13:50.34 That kept going and going and going. 00:13:52.89\00:13:54.76 - so you began lying and living a different life? 00:13:54.79\00:13:58.87 I felt like I was a part of Satan's, because you were 00:13:58.90\00:14:02.49 either in or out, there was no gray area in my church. 00:14:02.53\00:14:06.08 You are either with us all the way, 00:14:06.12\00:14:07.79 are you are in the world. 00:14:07.83\00:14:09.46 A friend of mine Bernie Andersen, who has been on the 00:14:09.49\00:14:12.19 program before wrote a book called, 00:14:12.22\00:14:13.79 ' Breaking the Silence,' and he is a Pastor and dealt with porn 00:14:13.82\00:14:17.06 until he was 14 and he finally had to say out loud, I have 00:14:17.10\00:14:20.18 to start saying something because men are dying thinking 00:14:20.22\00:14:23.27 they are the only ones out there. 00:14:23.31\00:14:24.89 I say men, but I know women have sexual addictions too. 00:14:24.92\00:14:28.28 On some of our addictions, especially if they get sexual, 00:14:28.32\00:14:31.64 we don't have anyone we can go and just say 00:14:31.68\00:14:35.76 are you dealing with this? 00:14:35.80\00:14:38.32 And do you know what I'm talking about? 00:14:38.36\00:14:39.76 I think that's a sin, I think you should be able to have 00:14:39.79\00:14:43.26 another man in the church to say sit down, this is what 00:14:43.30\00:14:46.73 I did, this is what helps me. 00:14:46.77\00:14:50.39 What I actually did was hid, and I found out as I went 00:14:50.43\00:14:54.53 to some of the 12 steps that a lot of men were hiding. 00:14:54.56\00:14:58.63 They had this problem, not everybody, 00:14:58.67\00:15:01.28 but a lot of men were hiding and they couldn't tell their 00:15:01.32\00:15:03.97 Pastors, they couldn't tell anybody in the church. 00:15:04.00\00:15:06.68 It was just this thing that you were dirty. 00:15:06.71\00:15:08.80 That really propelled me into thinking I was really evil, 00:15:08.84\00:15:12.46 I was really born of Satan and I really believe that. 00:15:12.49\00:15:16.05 I'm part of Satan's seed because I can't get a handle on this 00:15:16.08\00:15:18.93 thing and so I went down that road. 00:15:18.96\00:15:21.67 Of course it got worse. 00:15:21.70\00:15:23.48 I know it led to you have a relationship with a crack 00:15:23.52\00:15:27.01 addict and it really did get worse for you. 00:15:27.04\00:15:29.87 Lots of escorts, a guy introduced me to Escort X. 00:15:29.90\00:15:33.49 I really got lonesome, desperately lonesome and 00:15:33.52\00:15:37.05 I stopped drinking for a while, but I got really lonesome. 00:15:37.08\00:15:39.85 I was shy, I couldn't meet anybody, so I thought I would 00:15:39.89\00:15:42.74 have a drink and I didn't realize that I was an alcoholic 00:15:42.78\00:15:45.56 even at 40, so my drinks were doubles and I would have six or 00:15:45.60\00:15:49.23 seven doubles, drinking a fifth every other day. 00:15:49.26\00:15:52.15 When I drank, the next thing you know I would be like, 00:15:52.19\00:15:57.06 how would you say it, desperate. 00:15:57.10\00:16:01.02 I would find myself in this desperate situation. 00:16:01.05\00:16:03.24 So I let this guy, that was at the club, live with me and 00:16:03.27\00:16:05.85 he said, Heh, we don't have to sit here alone. 00:16:05.89\00:16:07.71 I said really, he said no we can have some girls come 00:16:07.75\00:16:10.07 over, girls come over what are you talking about? 00:16:10.11\00:16:12.36 We can actually have a girl for a $100 bucks or $150 bucks. 00:16:12.39\00:16:16.81 I said really. 00:16:16.85\00:16:18.36 I can imagine with that much loneliness and the stuff 00:16:18.39\00:16:20.30 you came from, that sounded great to you. 00:16:20.33\00:16:24.78 Of course I really want that and wanted that forever. 00:16:24.81\00:16:29.66 I drink because of that. 00:16:29.69\00:16:31.08 Yes, I was totally desperate, and what I didn't realize was 00:16:31.12\00:16:35.73 that I was moving down this progressively degrading path. 00:16:35.77\00:16:39.88 - I think a lot addicts don't know, and I hate to use your 00:16:39.91\00:16:43.99 testimony for such teaching moments, but a lot of us 00:16:44.02\00:16:47.49 don't know that when we grab something that is not real 00:16:47.53\00:16:50.97 life, I pay $150 bucks for somebody to spend the 00:16:51.00\00:16:53.77 evening, and when they leave I know that none of that was 00:16:53.81\00:16:56.33 real, and there is a brief reaction that is even worse. 00:16:56.36\00:16:59.76 So it is like this rebound thing that trashes us even 00:16:59.80\00:17:03.33 more, because now I know that I even will stoop to this. 00:17:03.36\00:17:06.85 Yes! - it's crazy. - yes. 00:17:06.89\00:17:09.83 I still want to say to you that there is a part of me 00:17:09.87\00:17:12.57 that wants to say I'm sorry for all that, because you 00:17:12.61\00:17:15.28 went through some tragic stuff. 00:17:15.31\00:17:17.32 What started to turn that around for you? 00:17:17.36\00:17:20.41 It sounds like it just keeps getting more intense, 00:17:20.45\00:17:23.22 it just keeps getting worse. 00:17:23.25\00:17:24.33 It finally came to its end I had several escorts that 00:17:24.36\00:17:28.37 I paid for and it was like you said, at the end of the 00:17:28.40\00:17:32.38 session, so to speak, you'd just be out money. 00:17:32.41\00:17:35.12 There was nothing lasting, there was no love and you 00:17:35.16\00:17:38.10 started to see it for that. 00:17:38.13\00:17:39.68 Even though the women started to change, at first they 00:17:39.71\00:17:43.56 smelled good and looked good. 00:17:43.59\00:17:45.30 After a while they started feeling dirty, you could 00:17:45.34\00:17:49.12 smell them and it was turning into a disgusting odor. 00:17:49.15\00:17:53.20 Honestly! So at the end I met a girl who was an escort 00:17:53.23\00:17:57.25 that wanted to quit. 00:17:57.28\00:17:59.17 She wanted to quit her profession. 00:17:59.20\00:18:00.65 - that's not you is it? - no, I wasn't. 00:18:00.68\00:18:03.82 I'm sorry go ahead, I'm like you look so sweet. 00:18:03.86\00:18:07.93 So she had a couple kids and I moved her out of this very 00:18:11.14\00:18:13.68 rough neighborhood, it was full of crack addicts and 00:18:13.72\00:18:16.06 heroine addicts, and I was rescuing this family from this 00:18:16.09\00:18:20.39 thing and I moved them out. 00:18:20.42\00:18:21.79 She resented me, hated me and I did know at the time she 00:18:21.83\00:18:24.87 was say crack addict. 00:18:24.90\00:18:26.56 She would disappear for four days at a time. 00:18:26.60\00:18:28.32 Within a short while I lost everything. 00:18:28.36\00:18:31.09 I lost my home, my cars, everything. 00:18:31.12\00:18:33.78 Literally I was just walking down the road. 00:18:33.81\00:18:35.78 What I can say about the sexual addiction was that it 00:18:35.82\00:18:39.90 was progressive, it does lead into. 00:18:39.93\00:18:42.43 The porn flips around and you get into different types 00:18:42.47\00:18:46.30 of porn, and different magazines, and different things, 00:18:46.33\00:18:50.12 and then you move into you wanting the real thing. 00:18:50.16\00:18:52.15 So once you have the real thing, then that came to it's end for 00:18:52.19\00:18:55.59 me. - the real thing that's not the real thing? 00:18:55.63\00:18:58.06 Yes! - because what you wanted was connection? 00:18:58.10\00:19:00.46 You want connection and love and it wasn't there, I saw it. 00:19:00.50\00:19:03.62 I finally had a girlfriend, regular girlfriend at the end 00:19:03.66\00:19:06.75 that said, I'm here for you and you are here for me. 00:19:06.78\00:19:10.10 I said okay, it was just sex and I thought this girl is 00:19:10.13\00:19:13.41 using me for sex and I was freaked out. 00:19:13.45\00:19:16.34 I thought she doesn't want me, she doesn't want me for 00:19:16.38\00:19:19.08 me, so I would take her out to a nice restaurant. 00:19:19.12\00:19:21.30 She said I told you don't look at me like that, 00:19:21.34\00:19:23.56 if you look at me with that love look in your eyes 00:19:23.59\00:19:25.77 I will throw you away, don't do that. 00:19:25.81\00:19:28.94 We are just here for this. 00:19:28.97\00:19:30.22 I thought, so the last time she came over, 00:19:30.26\00:19:32.40 she got undressed and I wasn't there, I was done. 00:19:32.43\00:19:37.88 I was done with my addiction, it has literally ran its 00:19:37.92\00:19:42.23 course, I hate to say that for me it took magazines, 00:19:42.26\00:19:45.92 down to this, down to that, down to the escorts until 00:19:45.96\00:19:49.58 finally I said, this isn't love. 00:19:49.62\00:19:51.84 To me, the most incredible thing for me about recovery 00:19:51.88\00:19:57.51 is that when we decide to get our needs met by an object 00:19:57.55\00:20:01.86 or an event, to buy a hooker, buy drugs, by stealing, by 00:20:01.89\00:20:06.16 gambling, by what ever, workaholism, when we decide 00:20:06.20\00:20:10.03 to get our needs met by that, is that we are not stupid, 00:20:10.06\00:20:13.04 we know that at the end of the day that no needs were met. 00:20:13.08\00:20:16.38 The grief reaction, the stuff that happens is tremendously 00:20:16.41\00:20:20.26 intense, the pain we are left with at the end of 20 years 00:20:20.29\00:20:24.10 is what we're left with. 00:20:24.13\00:20:25.81 - even more desperate! - more desperate and that is why 00:20:25.84\00:20:29.91 I think, for me, at 12 step groups says that you finally 00:20:29.94\00:20:33.97 realize I am powerless here. 00:20:34.00\00:20:35.77 I don't even know what to do, I do not know where to move 00:20:35.80\00:20:39.37 from here, I don't know how to do it anymore. 00:20:39.41\00:20:41.76 It's like every substance, alcohol, sex addiction, 00:20:41.80\00:20:44.58 it's all just an illusion, it is all a dead end road. 00:20:44.61\00:20:47.72 It is part of our flesh, it's part of experiencing this, 00:20:47.75\00:20:50.82 but they all leave us very empty and hopeless and 00:20:50.86\00:20:53.32 desperate. - definitely! 00:20:53.35\00:20:54.47 So I like to have a break, but before we have a break 00:20:54.51\00:20:58.93 I want you to introduce your wife to us. 00:20:58.97\00:21:01.47 Tell us how did you get from that desperate 00:21:01.51\00:21:03.98 place to being married? 00:21:04.02\00:21:06.88 This is my wife Angela. 00:21:06.91\00:21:09.70 So Angela you just heard all that what you think of it? 00:21:09.74\00:21:13.31 I know it seems crazy that I have no bad feelings to be 00:21:13.34\00:21:16.04 married to a husband who has been through all this. 00:21:16.07\00:21:18.76 I think what it is, is that I admire him with all my 00:21:18.79\00:21:21.41 heart that he has overcome this and he has surrendered to 00:21:21.45\00:21:24.82 God to such depth that he would let God heal this in him. 00:21:24.85\00:21:28.19 - so you met him in recovery? 00:21:29.82\00:21:31.35 I met him when he was fairly well surrendered and when 00:21:31.39\00:21:35.73 I prayed with him the first time, I could sense 00:21:35.77\00:21:39.14 positively the Holy Spirit so strong. 00:21:39.17\00:21:41.68 I thought wow, he's really rough, he's a rough diamond, 00:21:41.72\00:21:45.60 but he is precious beyond belief. 00:21:45.63\00:21:47.94 I could sense that strong Holy Spirit and it touched me. 00:21:47.97\00:21:52.21 I thought that was really amazing and as we grew together 00:21:52.24\00:21:55.97 and I saw him change more and more, still to this very 00:21:56.01\00:21:59.96 day, the surrendering to God got stronger and more often, 00:21:59.99\00:22:03.70 more situational where he surrendered each situation. 00:22:03.73\00:22:07.52 I saw him growing and I just well over with joy for what 00:22:07.56\00:22:11.31 God can do, because what He did in my life 00:22:11.34\00:22:13.20 was just as crazy. 00:22:13.23\00:22:14.68 What He did for Dan I stand in awe of God, 00:22:14.71\00:22:18.41 because how could this be? 00:22:18.45\00:22:20.02 God loves even this thing and He can turn it around. 00:22:20.06\00:22:24.78 Wow, I just well up with joy and talk about him every day 00:22:24.81\00:22:28.87 at my job, and about his surrender and overcoming. 00:22:28.91\00:22:32.50 What is funny to me as I listen to this, I think she 00:22:32.53\00:22:36.09 adores you. - I adore her too. 00:22:36.12\00:22:38.98 What happens is I think amazing, I'm looking at this 00:22:39.02\00:22:43.20 little boy at five that didn't have anybody seeing him, 00:22:43.23\00:22:47.38 been throughout your life saying I didn't have anybody. 00:22:47.42\00:22:50.39 I drink because of that loneliness, I paid someone to 00:22:50.42\00:22:53.21 be with me, and then God sends somebody to you that 00:22:53.25\00:22:56.15 just adores you, how fun is that? - What a gift. 00:22:56.18\00:22:59.02 We are going to take a break and come back and find out 00:22:59.05\00:23:03.28 from Angela, first of all where she came from, but I know 00:23:03.31\00:23:07.04 that part of the healing here was to deal with both of 00:23:07.07\00:23:10.77 them with their codependency issues. 00:23:10.80\00:23:14.04 Dan from back when he was a little boy and you will have 00:23:14.08\00:23:16.86 to come back and find out who Angela is and what stuff 00:23:16.90\00:23:19.65 she brought to the table. 00:23:19.68\00:23:21.23 Be right back! 00:23:21.26\00:23:22.45