Success Stories Shared By Previous and Current Residents. My name is C.P.          Before arriving at Success House, my life was in complete turmoil. I thought there was no help for me. I had been through a couple of treatment centers, but the 14 day treatment center programs only got my head clear enough to remember all that I knew at the time---how to find the ways and means to get more cocaine and alcohol. I had lost my business, missed the birth of my son, gone through bankruptcy, was convicted of an assault charge and hid from the IRS.          Today, with the help of Allen Sheffield, Alcoholics Anonymous and God, my life has been completely turned around in just a six month period. I worked off all my 80 hours of community service at Success House as my life was being restored. I am paying all my bills on time, taking care of my problems with the court system and the IRS, seeing my family on a regular basis and gaining their trust back and getting back into the industry that I am familiar with.          Without Success House and Allen Sheffield, None of this would have been possible. If you need "extra help and attention" after detox and treatment as I did, I firmly believe that Success House is the place for you. Success House has turned my life around and it can work for you as well.          A Success Story I am an alcoholic-addict, and my name is Danny. My sobriety date is May 27, 2001.          The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says, "If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it - then you are ready to take certain steps." My first step began with my decision to go to Success House in Brownwood, Tx. Allen Sheffield gave me a chance to change my life. He taught me a sense of duty, to be accountable, Good Orderly Direction and that I never have to drink or use again. Almost two years have passed now. I have a home. I am half-owner of a business. I have regained my self-respect and others respect me. I give back to the community instead of taking from it. I understand surrender, honesty and acceptance. I pray you will be moved to a new level in your recovery. All things are possible through action and miracles do happen. I am a miracle and a success story. It all started at the Success House. Thanks, Danny S.          My Name is John M. My sobriety date is March 25, 2002.          I went to Success House on April 11, 2002. I didn't know what to expect, but what I found was an environment that promoted sobriety. I stayed at Success House for eleven months and moved out so that my nine year old daughter could live with me. I can't say that I am sober today because of Success House, but it offers a living situation that has made the process of recovery less stressful. Today I am sober by the Grace of God. I also recognize the fact that Success House gave me the conditions to make that choice.          My Name is Michael.           I'm an alcoholic, addict, & attorney. Ex-everything else---ex-husband, ex-father, you know the drill. If you don't, move along, there's nothing to see here. For the past year I've lived at Success House. As I write I'm facing disbarment and a jail stretch.          For more than twenty-six years the law has treated me well, if not kindly. I've been board-certified in criminal and personal injury law. I've served as a District Attorney. As a journeyman trial lawyer I've made a lot of money, some of which I still have. The few grievances filed against me were all dismissed. I have provided hundred of hours of pro-bono work.          And I like to drink. I like to party.          The shrew is my animal totem. (I learned about animal totems in a Colorado ashram where I was plotting the riddle of my disastrous nature with four a.m.- four hour meditations, yoga and acupuncture, pressure point massages and vegetarian chili, among gentle women in loose clothes with names like Shanti & Sita.) Shrews have voracious appetites, consuming three times their weight daily, and pressed with starvation a shrew will begin to eat itself, tail first of course, consumption being how the shrew lasts a little longer. Drinking and using, I'm a starving shrew.          That first slogan of law school---the law is a jealous mistress---sounded so fine to me. Challenging, dangerous. But think about it. Does any sane man want a jealous mistress?          For me practicing law well was rewarding, but it was not a path, a philosophy, or a discipline for living validly. Because lawyering fed my ego and my habits and enabled me to collect stuff, I settled for the semi-quality of my life. I quit growing up. My soul atrophied. For an alcoholic and addict like myself, being a lawyer was easier than being a human being.          Hey, success is no respecter of persons.          It's a disease. I'm not bad; I'm sick. It ain't about morality; it's about recovery. Does anyone (besides certain members of my fundamentalist family) still believe that drinking into the doors of death is a moral choice? This issue is beyond my scope here, and my patience, but if you want proof without going to the library find a real person you trust who knows and loves an alcoholic or addict. Ask that real person. And listen.          Now, two moot points.          One. The disease is a mind-f**er that you don't know has eaten most of you until it's eaten most of you. Remember the shrew. Early detection can save your life. That's still important to you, right? Maybe not. It wasn't for me once.          Two. There's no cure but there is an answer. To date no scientist, therapist, psychiatrist, psychologist, druggist, doctor, preacher, guru, whoever-whatever has come up with a solution, except a 12 Step program. I've been treated by every profession just listed. Yeah, occasionally I read about a new drug for my disease. What a great day when that pill hits the market. But it hasn't, and don't start e-mailing me those SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH articles. There's no cure. When it arrives, people like myself will be the first ones with 'scripts. After all, this is what we do. We swallow stuff to feel better.          So far, it's 12 Steps---AA or NA. But they work.          Here's a secret ---The Secret: At Success House, and in the rooms of AA & NA, I don't just learn how to avoid Russian vodka, Columbian crop, and Texas tweak. I learn how to live. You can too, despite your intelligence. While it's still good, I swear on my law license. Sounds corny? Too linear for your perverse mind? Well, often I hear my 12 Step friends say they're glad they're alcoholics, or got arrested for DUI, because these disasters brought them to a school for valid living. How twisted is that?          Success House didn't save my life. Something, someone, a lot bigger did and does every day now. But I found sobriety at Success House in tiny Brownwood, Texas. It's perverse, it's twisted, I know. I love it. Copyright© 2003 Success Industries, Inc. 307 W. Adams Brownwood, TX 76801 1.800.586.8134 or 325.646.1903 allenshef@yahoo.com