In the years since my recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction, which started 40 years ago, I have come to realize that as a practicing alcoholic and drug addict I was a sick person, and that there was absolutely nothing I could have done to stop these killer addictions taking control of my life. The way they crept up on me and the nature of my downwardly spiraling behaviour were all part of the natural progress of my disease. Today I am aware of many others who have had the same experiences that I have, and many of them helped me to find the alcohol and drug free life that I have been blessed with today. Where ever and whenever I took the first drink of the day, I had no idea what was going to be the result or where I would end up. Would I be arrested or hospitalized again? Would I blow what little money I had left on a prostitute or be in my bed or a strange bed with someone I did not remember meeting or ever seeing before? Or would I be alone with only the most horrendous hangover and all-consuming self-pity for company, not having a clue what I had done the night before? One or more of these was always what followed my taking the first drink of the day! Since I became 40 and quit booze and drugs, I have lived a life of such extraordinary diversity and happiness that it seems important for me to pass on my experiences to others, so that it may help them climb out of the self-made hell alcoholics and drug addicts create for themselves. "My way" eventually led to me living my life with an attitude of utter despair, wanting to be dead but not having the courage to take my own life. Today, it is not like that. I have found a life, lived mostly in bright sunshine, which has kept getting better as the years rolled by, sadly quicker now that I enjoy them so much.