Harrison began interning at Dallas 24 Hour Club as a way to give back early in his recovery. The hope he found at The 24 allowed him to return here when he needed it most. He was so generous to share his story with us all.
Early in my recovery, I was an intern at Dallas 24 Hour Club, and knew it was a special place. It wasn’t until I was about 5 months into a relapse - with nowhere to go and no energy to continue my own way that I learned how incredible The 24 truly is.
After trying to quit every morning and being drunk by the evening on a daily basis, I experienced the terror of alcoholism like never before. Five months prior, it would seem to anyone that my life was together. I was nearing two years sober and had an apartment, car, and girlfriend that I loved - I thought that was enough. But I found that no matter how well she loved me or how many blessings my life had, I was doomed with no connection to a higher power. It was misery. The depression and a spiritual malady nearly killed me.
I arrived at The 24 the day after totaling a company truck in Waco. Somehow, the police allowed me to leave the scene with no consequence. Sitting in my friend’s apartment, where I was couch surfing, I realized I had no more energy to continue this run. It was not the external circumstances of withdrawal, devastated loved ones, or my bank account. It was truly a point of clarity when I realized that if I didn’t go to the place I interned, get humbled and allow {a twelve-step program of recovery} to save me; I would die.
Looking back at my journey, had I not walked into Dallas 24 Hour Club on June 18, 2021, I would not be here to write this. The love, compassion, lack of judgment, and true notion of hope pulled me in from day one. As it is said around the campus often, it is the most unique place in the world. By a long shot. Starting with sleeping on the floor, with nausea and jitters, I began my step work and thought a little more about others than myself. The comradery of The 24 is, as the Big Book says, “it mirrors the sentiment of a group of people saved from a shipwreck.”
I did not leave The 24 on good terms at first. Having used THC my first week there, and having been dishonest about that, I was kicked out after two months because the THC was still showing in my system. The foundation had been set. The basic truths that were cultivated allowed me to return and make amends weeks later and allowed me to continue my spiritual reparation. The fact is simple, The 24 allowed me the environment to meet my higher power again, for the first time in a long time, and it saved my life.
Coming up on a year sober, graduating college on August 5th (classes which started up again while at The 24), and lastly, getting a job offer from a company whose name I didn’t recognize at first. Then I realized that the free t-shirt I was given when admitted to The 24 was from that very same company. God has a great sense of humor! I am still more thankful for the internal condition that The 24 began to sculpt during my time there. I am walking hand in hand with the spirit of
the universe for the first time in my life, it seems.
I will forever be in debt to the environment that The 24 provided me to be saved from this horrible disease.
-Harrison Buford