4 years ago today, I woke up on Day 1.

I didn’t wake up brave. I woke up broken. A few hours earlier, I’d been roofied in a bar — and looking back now, that terrible night was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it was the night God finally got my attention for good.

Here’s the part nobody tells you: it took me six months to even believe in myself enough to work Step 1. Six months of showing up broken before I believed I could do this. If you’re there right now — keep showing up anyway.

September 30. Four years alcohol-free. Here are 4 lessons I learned the hard way, so maybe you don’t have to:

1. Your worst day can become your turning point.
I thought getting roofied was rock bottom. It turned out to be the trapdoor underneath rock bottom — the one that dropped me straight into God’s hands. Don’t waste your pain. It might be the beginning of your story, not the end of it.

2. You don’t have to numb it to survive it.
I live with CRPS and central pain syndrome. I spent years numbing everything. These four years taught me to breathe through the pain instead of running from it — to feel it, pray through it, and let it pass. Feeling it didn’t kill me. Numbing it almost did.

3. You are not your past.
I am not who I was. I choose to stop numbing, stop running. I choose Hope. I choose Freedom. If God can make me new, He can make you new too. Don’t let anyone — including yourself — keep you chained to who you used to be.

4. Your pain has a purpose.
I lost my nephew Josh to addiction and suicide. I would give anything to hear his voice one more time. So now I fight for the ones who are still here. Every day is a victory. Every minute is a miracle. Recovery is possible. Recovery is worth it.

4 years. Real healing. Unfinished.

Recovery is worth it!

You matter. Tomorrow needs you. I need you!

Thank you for letting me share.

• Tammy Rose