The purpose of our lives is to understand why we are here. What is our purpose and what can we leave behind? Most people never answer these questions before taking their last breath. They have an idea, but sometimes the ending looks different than the plan. Today we’re going to explore a man’s life, who is a current student at Gulf Coast State College. Kyle Hall is a student, a father, a husband, works a full-time job, and avidly attends and works ministry at church. Before All of that, he battled with addiction for almost 20 years. For the theme of this profile, we’re going to focus on moving forward and never giving up.
The Beginning
To dive into an overcoming story, we have to first look at the initial growing-up years to see if there’s a connection. Usually, trauma at a young age stems from future obstacles that we are forced to fight. Kyle was born in Jacksonville, Fl in 1987. Shortly after being born he moved into a family home in Weaver, Alabama. Kyle wasn’t raised in a toxic home, however, when he was about 12 years old, his parents sat him down to tell him they were getting a divorce. Any son at any age never likes the sound of the word divorce but every son always reverts to the same question, ”Is it my fault?”. This conversation is one of the things that began the slow trickle into the rebellious years of Kyle’s life.
The Life
High school is really when the rebellion began. “I don’t think it was because I was pushed into wanting to try new things or that the peer pressure was too much,” Kyle tells us. ” I think I just wanted to be the center of attention and with my mom not being around as much, I had more time to get into trouble.” This was when his addiction began and where he learned to blend doing his addictions while maintaining a normal life on the surface. “ I smoked pot and drank alcohol for the first time when I was 12 years old. At first, these were my pleasures and the things I enjoyed. Because I smoked and got drunk, I slowly circled myself with people who did the same. Partying at a young age is very common but the amounts me and my ‘friends’ did it were in no way normal.”
The Battle
“The real addiction began when I kept wanting more. It wasn’t that I felt I needed to get high or drunk on a day-to-day basis, it was that I always wanted a different high.“ Kyle explains. Kyle started very young with marijuana and alcohol. Next, before he knew it, he was using drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, Xanax bars, and whippets. The thing about addiction is once you start down a road, each time you use, the high needs more drugs to get you to the previous feeling. So naturally, addicts do more of single drugs or explore drugs of different characteristics to find that high.
The Beginning of the End
The party years of Kyle’s life slowly transitioned into wanting to party every day. Every day became a mixture of working dead-end kitchen jobs while staying high and drunk throughout most of his days and nights. Kyle begins to tell us about how everything began to change. “After 20 years there were a lot of things that could have caused me to turn my life around but in the end, it was a simple realization. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I spent many years living paycheck to paycheck with nothing to show for anything I did and was tired of being looked at as the life of the party. I wanted to be looked at like a father who cares about his life.”
New Man
Kyle’s story up until this point seems like there’s nothing he could do to escape what he knew. He decided to change for many reasons, but one of the top reasons was his son. “At this point in my life my son was turning four years old and even though I had been in his life, I was never really there for him. I took 3 weeks for myself and went to my dad’s house in Alabama to clear my head. When I got back, everything had changed.” Kyle returned to Florida with new eyes. He left his job in kitchens and spent more time focusing on himself. Over the next 5 years, the process got stronger and stronger. Kyle got married to the love of his life, got into better jobs in which he quickly excelled, became active in his church, and Went back to college to finish a degree he had started 10 years before. The world looked brighter and he told me in the interview that this is still just the beginning.
The Happy Ending
Not all stories that start bad, end badly. This is a prime example of finding what you believe in and pursuing something better. Throughout the course of Kyle’s Life, he had to overcome many obstacles that people who have never been through these tests will never understand. People think that addiction is as easy as stopping and moving on but it’s a day-to-day challenge to stay focused. An addict’s mind is wired differently. A drink isn’t just a drink but possibly a slow spiral back into our old lives.
“Staying sober is about staying true to my beliefs and putting my core values above a good time day in and day out,” Kyle tells us. “When you’re deep in a party life you forget how beautiful life is. You forget how nice it is to make your own decisions, have money in your pocket, and be able to hug your family every night before you lay in the comfort of your house.” Kyle’s story is a testament to finding what you love to take you away from what you know. Kyle loves his family, his values, and his life. Every day he shows us how to overcome adversity by just taking one step at a time and always moving forward.
