Never Say Never!

Hi, myself Ali Haider, a writer and poet by profession and an alcohol survivor, which unknowingly has become a part of my introduction. Back in 2016, I lost my wife, my son, my family, my city of work-Mumbai, and precisely my whole life due to my massive drug addiction and alcoholism. I come from a highly educated doctors family, with my father being a cardiologist, mom a gynecologist, and uncle a cancer surgeon among others. Despite of all positive and educated influences around, when the demons of addiction attack you, you fall prey! You fall prey and you become a parasite to these addictions. We live in an internet exposed, information flowing society, with a constant pressure to fit in-be it professionally or otherwise, which definitely acts as a stimulus. Our youth is succumbed to drug abuse and depression at a very nascent age of their lives-thanks to all kinds of exposure and access that we have.

My mug and bucket moment was the point when I had hit rock bottom. It was my son’s birthday and I only had 32 rs. in my pocket and two choices to make:
A. I buy a chocolate for my son
B. I buy a bottle of country liquor for myself

And to my dismay, I chose OPTION B. I hated myself for it but I couldn’t stop. I JUST COULDN’T CONTROL!

It was at this point I realized I needed to make changes right away. Things were wrong on so many levels. I decided not to look back and make a fresh start….

Today, its been 3 years I haven’t touched alcohol or any kind of drug and have made fitness my mission. I’m 39 years old and have lost 65 kgs of weight. I religiously workout for around 3 hours every morning. My day earlier began with a sip of alcohol (literally) and today I wake up at 4.30 am and hit the gym for 3 hours. Life does not give a second chance to everyone. I have been fortunate to get one. I also suffer from clinical depression and bipolar disorder. Everyday is a battle for me.

Everyday I wake up, I fight and I survive. I live one lane across my wife and son and I live alone in the hope that someday they might forgive me and come back home. My story is of failure..my story is of struggle..my story is of everything one should not do but above all MY STORY IS OF HOPE!