60 seconds.
That's how long my heart stopped — and why this exists.
You don't have to wait for a diagnosis, a therapist, or the "right time." Healing begins with one honest moment — and we're building the space for that moment.
I had been drinking heavily for more than fifteen years. Eventually, my addiction brought me to a night that nearly became my last.
I mixed alcohol with medication and suffered severe alcohol poisoning. I lost consciousness. By the time emergency help arrived, I was unresponsive — and then I stopped breathing.
CPR began. Emergency measures were taken to bring me back.
For over a minute, I was gone.
There are moments that divide your life into before and after. That was mine.
But recovery didn't happen in that moment. Being brought back to life and learning how to live again were two very different things.
I had to face the addiction, the pain underneath it, the damage I had caused, and the parts of myself I had spent years trying to escape. Recovery meant taking responsibility for my past without allowing it to become the rest of my story.
I survived that night.
Then I had to learn how to survive everything that came after it.
Today, I am sober. And Why We Recover exists because I know there are people sitting in that same darkness, wondering whether their life can ever become something different.
It can.
This is the space I wish had existed when I was trying to find my way out.
— Gabi, Founder and Recovery Advocate
In memory of Chester Bennington — whose voice gave words to pain that many of us couldn't speak out loud. I was 12 years old when his music found me, and it never let go. This is for everyone who found themselves in his lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm5iA4Zupek
If you are struggling right now, help is available. Call or text 988.
Music didn't fix me. It reminded me I was worth fixing.
Gabi
I'm not a therapist. I won't diagnose you. What I am is someone who was gone for a minute and came back — and I'm building the tools I wish I'd had between the decision to change and the first appointment.
Tell the story of the mountain you climbed. Your words could become a page in someone else's survival guide.
Healing doesn't wait. Join our waitless.
Be among the first to walk through the doors when Why We Recover opens. We'll email you the moment it's ready — no spam, ever.