Sydney M. Age. 28 Sober: 1/7/2010Sydney M. Age. 28 Sober: 1/7/2010
Keep Coming Back: Real Stories of Sobriety & Recovery
Rehab at 15, then back to high school. Rehab at 18, and now it sticks. Sydney and I weave through her story and focus on life in a rehab, willingness to change, and growing up with alcoholism in the family.
45:16•17 Oct 2019
From Teen Rehab to Ten Years Sober: Sydney’s Wild, Honest Journey
Episode Overview
- Sydney describes hitting a bottom at 18 as "emotionally bankrupt" rather than after any single dramatic incident.
- Early rehab at 15 felt like punishment, and she left with more knowledge about drugs than when she arrived.
- Her second treatment at Silver Hill worked because she decided to give recovery everything, on an all-or-nothing basis.
- AA, daily meetings, and doing the steps – including difficult amends – became central to building a new life.
- Today she focuses on being "a full person" and suggests anyone considering sobriety should give it their absolute all for a period, then reassess.
“I was emotionally bankrupt… at 18, I thought it was done.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between Mike S and Sydney M is packed with raw honesty, dark humour, and the messy reality of getting clean young. At 28, with ten years sober, Sydney looks back on a chaos-filled adolescence: ecstasy, Valium, weed, and booze by 15, waking up in a psych ward, and going straight to rehab at Karen’s adolescent unit.
She laughs about "lowering my shirt" in the breakfast line and learning "how to do other harder drugs" from fellow patients, showing how treatment can sometimes become a masterclass in using. Her story follows a fast track from affluent New Jersey to a failed Canadian boarding school escape plan, into New York City, heroin, YouTube tutorials on using, and being found "hanging out the window, nodding out" in her dorm.
Despite all that, she kept grades up and used that as proof she was “fine,” even as she describes being "emotionally bankrupt" and having "no will to live". Things shift at 18 in Silver Hill, where she decides to give recovery "my all" on an all-or-nothing basis. She talks through early AA, riding the "druggie buggy" to 7 a.m.
meetings, unexpected moments of saying no to drugs in rehab, and doing amends so seriously she pulled over on a highway for a scheduled call with an ex–best friend. Sydney also shares what sobriety looks like now: going to the same home group as her dad, feeling like a "full person" rather than a shell, and learning "lighter lashes" instead of beating herself up. Her main advice for anyone considering sobriety?
Give it absolutely everything for a set period and then reassess. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re "too young" or "not bad enough" for help, this story might make you rethink those excuses.
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