Answer Addiction

Tag: fighting for sobriety

  • Boxing Helped Him Stay Sober, Now He Wants To Go Pro

    Boxing Helped Him Stay Sober, Now He Wants To Go Pro

    “I can’t wait to give the sport back what it has given me,” said amateur boxer Chad Leoncello.

    When Chad Leoncello started boxing two and a half years go he was just fighting to stay sober, but next week the Massachusetts resident will appear before the state athletic commission as he seeks to become a professional boxer.

    “I’ve had a late jump on the sport,” Leoncello, 35, told Enterprise News. “But my will and my heart is what is pushing me through. I’m not saying I’m going to be a world champ. But I do have some time to fight and really just make a statement of who I am as a fighter.”

    Leoncello also started the “Sober Warriors” movement, which aims to introduce people struggling with substance use disorder to the sport. 

    “When I talk to guys in my testimonies, I say, ‘You get frustrated with your girlfriend, a family member or a life situation, and you want to drink, or you want to punch something. So punch something,’” Leoncello told Enterprise News last year. “And it does work. It’s more of a healthy outlet for us. It’s really a healthy way to cope.”

    To bring the new coping skill to people in recovery, Leoncello delivered punching bags and other equipment to sober homes around Boston. 

    Other people in recovery began training with Leoncello and eventually going to competitions with him. 

    “I feel amazing in my recovery – boxing and growing – but it’s also watching my guys, and seeing them in the ring,” Leoncello said. “The majority won, but it was more about their families being at the show. Guys go from on their deathbed and overdosing, and now they have their families cheering them on, showing them love and crying at the end of the match. That’s the reward by itself.”

    Leoncello, who is an alcoholic and former opioid addict, said that he happened into boxing by chance, but quickly realized that it could be a great tool for people in recovery. 

    “The judge gave me a device I had to blew on three times a day. If I blew a positive I couldn’t see my son,” he explained. “I had three days to kill before seeing my son. I didn’t know what to do. … I went to doctor who gave me a drug for withdrawals. And I decided to walk into a boxing gym, and take my frustrations out that way. I made it down to Florida, and it was the first time I felt something real in my heart. From that point on, I never picked up a drug or alcohol again.”

    Now, Leoncello is hopeful that he’ll have the chance to fight professionally and show again what the sport has done for him. 

    “It’s something I want to do in life. … I think the big lights are calling my name. … I have a lot of respect for the sport because of what it has done for me and my life,” he said. “I can’t wait to give the sport back what it has given me.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lil Xan On Mac Miller's Death, His Own Sobriety: "I'm Not Completely Clean Yet"

    Lil Xan On Mac Miller's Death, His Own Sobriety: "I'm Not Completely Clean Yet"

    “You relapse. You don’t want to. You get clean again. And you relapse. It’s a process. You need treatment, and sometimes, that doesn’t even help.”

    Hip-hop artist Lil Xan spoke candidly about the overdose death of his idol, rapper Mac Miller, and his own struggles with substance use, including a recent relapse.

    In a conversation with TMZ on Nov. 5, Lil Xan (born Diego Leanos) said that while he wasn’t surprised that fentanyl played a role in his fellow artist’s demise, he remains devastated by the news.

    “It’s always fentanyl,” Leanos told TMZ in regard to Miller’s death on Sept. 7, 2018. He said that the synthetic opioid was among the primary reasons that he stopped dealing pills prior to his music career.

    “I was selling Xanax before I was a rapper, you know, when it was real,” he said. “And the minute it got to fentanyl, I was like, ‘I’m not going to sell this.’ My friends were taking it, they were puking. I was like, ‘I can’t… I’m out of the game.’”

    In regard to Miller’s death, Leanos told TMZ, “There’s been so many people [who died from fentanyl overdose], but in particular, Mac hurt the most, because it definitely changed my everything.”

    Leanos had been left so devastated by Miller’s death that in September, he considered retiring from music after fulfilling his recording contract. “When your hero dies, f—k that s—t,” he declared during a podcast interview. “I don’t want to make music no more.” 

    Most recently, Leanos has been recording a tribute album to Miller called Be Safe, which is reportedly due in December. He canceled a quintet of live appearances to focus his energy on completing the project, but added that he was also working on his sobriety.

    “I’m not completely clean yet,” he told TMZ. “I’m off Xanax, but narcos I’m still trying to wean off. ” 

    Leanos said that following his recent relapse, he sequestered himself in a forest and “detached from the world” to regain his sobriety. In regard to the relapse, he said, “Any addict would understand that s—t happens. You relapse. You don’t want to. You get clean again. And you relapse. It’s a process. You need treatment, and sometimes, that doesn’t even help.”

    Change, said Leanos, can only come when the individual wants it. “It has to come from within,” he said. “I’ve gone through periods of like, six months. And now it’s because of me. It’s because I want to be clean.”

    View the original article at thefix.com