My dad always instilled in us from a very young age the most important value for me and my brothers to develop: do the right thing.
Even if it hurts or you want to take the easy way out, you still do the right thing. He taught us the consequences of not doing the right thing, and eventually I adapted that value as my own. I lived by that value my whole life and let it guide the decisions I made. However, once my addiction kicked into high gear, this value got kind of fuzzy. I still valued doing the right thing, but my actions did not align with my value. I was stealing from stores and committing other petty crimes.
Eventually, I committed the crime that landed me in prison. None of this aligned with my values. It made me feel bad about myself and who I was. When I got to jail and sobered up, I decided I was going to live by that value again. I would make the effort to do the right thing no matter what. I would go out of my way to help people whenever I could. Living like that makes me feel fulfilled and at peace with myself. Helping others keeps me sober.
When I am released, I am going to open a nonprofit organization to continue helping others, especially those with addiction and mental illness. Remembering my values and what is important to me has helped me turn my life around and create a meaningful, abundant day to day life.
