There it is, in 6 simple words, the story of my life. I reside in a town with the population roughly 400. Everyone assumes they know my life because they have known me 37 years, or because they knew my grandparents whom raised me. Everyone in my small town, surrounding towns, and the next county over know that I had a substance abuse problem. There was more to me before addiction, before being diagnosed Bipolar 2 with Anxiety Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. There was more to me during my addiction. There is more to me now as I struggle with sobriety. Would who I was, to where I have been, to who I am becoming each day, help one person? I’m sure it would. Doesn’t every addict have a story to tell and doesn’t everyone struggling themselves, find help in reading about the troubled life of addicts with mental disorders? What makes my story special or different? I’m not sure yet. I know my poems are different. They reflect who I was, am, going to be. Poetry is short though. Free-style poetry can lead anywhere. To write an entire story of my life is something else altogether. Perhaps it should be written as fiction. Fiction is after all telling the truth in a less obvious way. Suggestions? Feedback? Advice?