Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The next day... Day: Tuesday, July 16th, 2017 Time: 12:00pm Location: Dallas, Texas
OMNISCIENT.
"Hi. I'm paris." She introduces herself to the unknown group of people she stood before.
"Hi paris." The group says back.
She sighs and looks down at her feet. "I'm an drug addict." She spoke. "Um...a year or so back I got hooked on pills and then a little while after that I was introduced to cocaine. I was a heavy user and I even had times where I overdosed. But nothing too serious even though overdosing is serious. But it was never to the point where I had to be rushed to the hospital or almost died or anything." She explains like it would make a difference or sound better. "Anyways...after that I got myself clean. I went to rehab and slowly but surely I got myself back on track and hadn't touch another drug until recently." She stops talking for the moment and takes a deep breath trying to prepare herself to say something she hasn't and wasn't ready to say in front of all these people she didn't know. "Three months ago I was raped by one of my best friend, boyfriend. I was hurt and in shock. Mostly ashamed." She says. "On top of that I had other personal shit going on and that incident was just the icing on the cake. It caused me to crash out and relapse." The tears she tried to hold back came to the brim of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "It's been rough and I-i-i feel like I don't have control of my body because of what he did to me. I know that I can't continue to turn to drugs to run from reality, so that's why I'm here." She finished sharing her story.
Her group began to clap. Applauding her to have the courage to tell her story. That's something many people couldn't do, especially not in front of random people they didn't know from a can of paint.
"Thank you so much paris." Their recovery coach also known as Iyanla stood up from the chair she was sitting in. Paris nodded and took a seat.
"It takes a lot of courage and braveness to share a story like that." She says. "You all have stories that need to be heard and this is the place. You're here with people who has the same addiction as you and it's a judge free zone. And It's my mission to help you guys recover and to also help you heal from Traumatic situations that may have led you to substance abuse or that may have triggered your use for drugs again." Iyanla spoke honestly. She was determined to help each and every person as much as she could.
As she continued to talk the doors to the room opened and shut, bringing everyone attention from Iyanla to the person who had just walked in.
"May I help you?" Iyanla also gives her attention to the young man.
"U-u-m yeah I was referred here from my therapist." The boy spoke.
