JT gets the honor of interviewing the man who changed the trajectory of his life forever with a simple gesture of friendship that would turn into a human connection and bond that he never thought possible. Thomas Miles, or simply known as Miles, introduces us to his story of pain, suffering, joy and triumph by painting a picture of a complicated childhood filled with struggle, confusion, loneliness and a desperate need to fit into the world surrounding him. Resenting his angry alcoholic father, Miles searches for ways to save his mother and sisters from his constant chaos and abuse. Very early in childhood, Miles developed a severe nervous disposition and protective nature as he helplessly watched his Dad abuse his mother day after day. He recalls his first encounter with alcohol at fourteen when him and his group of friends were given a green light by a reckless parent to drink and party. Miles soon discovered that he would rather focus on academics than alcohol but still struggled to find a way to fit in as the only black student in his high school. A theme that would end up following him into adulthood.
After divorce, Miles family is moved to the inner city with his new father in law that treated him as his own and was a proper role model.
Miles found himself desperate to fit in with the inner city kids and began a young career of robbery, alcohol and drug abuse and gang activity. He tells how smoking a little pot and giving his friends prescription xanax he could be accepted by a group of friends that looked like he did. He forgets his academic dream and focused only on impressing the group and gaining street ‘cred’ with his progressive ability to rob and one up each criminal offense.
Miles walks us through his early adulthood as he continued his crime and drugs as the only way he knew to live. Early fatherhood found him not wanting to do drugs in front of his children and alcohol became his new way of coping with life. Putting his kids mother and his daughters through the same wrath his father put him through Miles fell into the abyss of alcohol abuse and addictive denial for years. After his girl left him and took his daughters he became unchecked and out of control becoming a man with a family and a job to a homeless drunk junkie smoking meth everyday in his stolen vehicle. Desperate, Miles went to the first of many rehabs and was introduced to the rooms of AA. Miles lets down his guard as he takes us through the horrifying struggle of chronic recovery and relapse. Describing his all time low of hearing his baby crying for daddy as he was unable to stop smoking meth in the closet he had locked himself in for days. In a final attempt to help, Miles baby mama and his mother forced him out of their lives after he became completely lost in the grips of chaos and insanity living in a fantasy world based on his own reality. He tells us while living in a sober living house he was able to build unbelievable bonds and started a foundation of alcoholics anonymous twelve step program. While observing the people and friends around him having progressive lives that were getting better, Miles knew that his own life was stagnant as he purposely didn’t work the steps or learn from classes. He observes his own self destructive tendencies as he recalls his final relapse after leaving Sober Living in a hotel room where in four short days he destroyed every single positive thing he built in a year. After knowing his friends would never give up on him, Miles reaches out for help and returns to rehab for a final attempt at a life of sobriety. Eight months after his relapse he discusses with us his new belief in a God, his first honest attempt at the twelve steps and a world of happiness that he has never felt in his entire life. He explains the how the gift of desperation has given him the ability to be open to the possibility that living in a world of sobriety through AA can be done.
Miles describes the pain and disgust he still feels from his past and talks about how he is healing those wounds through working a program and learning from the lives of the friends that never left his side and remain sober with him today. How taking suggestions and allowing sobriety to become a lifestyle brings the lifestyle he wants to adopt as a way of life. This is an inspiring, heart breaking, beautiful story of redemption through the eyes of a man who came to believe that he was worthy of a good life.
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