A Story About Never Giving Up

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 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.

“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.