Welcome!

October 19, 2011 — GeorgeK

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog. My name is George and something that motivated me in to starting this blog, is the sole fact that LIFE, (if viewed in a healthy way) is a wonderful gift. Another motivator for this blog is the fact that I love to help/serve people. I remember being in the restaurant business for 15 years and watching people’s faces light up when they were satisfied in the service I provided, it was exhilarating. Today I like to help/serve in a different way. With an MS in Counseling, 10 years experience working with addicts (along with being addicted to drugs and alcohol for 20 years myself), and also working on my Doctorate in Strategic Leadership, I am reaching out to those who are struggling with drugs and alcohol through my blog by writing  about my experiences and my story. I love talking with people, really take my time and offer it in a way that will benefit THEM, just like people in my past who took their time to encourage me, guide me, advise me, and simply just be THERE for me.

I can talk to people struggling with addictions not only through the lenses of the training but through real life experiences that I have gone through myself, there is a deep connection between me and a person struggling with drug addiction because they can sense the honesty, sincerity, and the raw-like conversation we have about addiction. I get it today why I had to go through all that pain, so I can understand pain associated with addiction in an intimate way so others can see there is hope in recovering from drug addiction. I made some very poor choices in my life and I am opposed to any type of substances/drugs (legal or not) that alters our minds. I’ve seen first hand what these substances can do to people. I know many people who have died due to drugs, people who are in jail due to drugs, and those who are simply still drowning in drug addiction.

My Purpose for this blog is to be a resource for those who are struggling with drugs and alcohol and to simply instill hope to the hopeless through my life’s stories. You see, once I realized that my poor choices growing up accompanied with my own insecurities was the reason why my relationship with God and others was so distant, it was then that a vicious cycle of a 20 year drug addiction was over. There was a point in my life where I did not see purpose to why I was here but today I have purpose and I am living it to its full potential.

There is so much to talk about in LIFE! I would love to discuss many different topics on here ranging from sports to matters of the heart and spiritual growth. This is a venue where everyone and anyone are welcomed. I also want to mention that I am not here to rehash anyone’s past including mentioning people’s names, unless they decide to disclose anything for themselves. Everyone involved in my past will never be talked
about. My past including my choices are my outcomes. Like I said, I am not here to rehash the past, instead I am here to use my past as a spring-board to where I am today and with that give all the Glory to God. Please join in and LET’S TALK ABOUT LIFE

DISCLAIMER: The information provided herein should not be construed as a health-care diagnosis, treatment regimen or any other prescribed health-care advice or instruction. The information is provided with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in the practice of medicine, the author suggests that readers consult appropriate health-care professionals in such matters. No action should be taken based solely on the content of this publication. The information and opinions provided herein are believed to be accurate and sound at the time of publication, based on the best judgment available to the author. However, readers who rely on information in this publication to replace the advice of health-care professionals, or who fail to consult with health-care professionals, assume all risks of such conduct. The publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions.

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My Story – One day is better than 1000 days

October 19, 2011 — GeorgeK

August 2000

I “came to” at around 10am which in my mind I thought was a
Monday morning. I felt dizzy, hung over and nauseous. Every time I tried to get
out of bed it felt as if a boulder was tied to my forehead, I just could NOT
lift myself up! When I finally did lift myself out of bed my legs gave out and
I fell to my face. My body felt like it went through a vigorous beating, I was
scared and confused. I was also STARVING it felt like I hadn’t eaten for days
but I had no food and since I called out sick the day before I did not have any
money. I was a waiter in downtown Chicago
and was living day-to-day. As a waiter I was making anywhere form $300 to $500
a day depending what day of the week it was. I worked six days/week from 10am
to 12pm. A portion of that daily income was going to my brother who at that
time was trying to help me manage my finances due to the fact that my addiction
to cocaine was at its peak therefore I could not keep up with paying any
bills.  I ALWAYS kept $200/day for my
daily fix. I ate at the restaurant so there was no need to keep money to eat.
Back to that BLESSED “Monday” morning (and I’m not being sarcastic, I mean it
when I say blessed)……I turned on the TV and to my surprise I found out it was
Wednesday morning NOT Monday morning!!! I had passed out from Sunday morning to
Wednesday morning, no wonder I was starving!!

As I was gathering my thoughts I could not remember waking up in those three
days. I did not remember anything!!! Fear crept in; I did not know what to do.
I was coming to the end of a 20 year BINGE on drugs and alcohol and at this
point I was averaging 3 hours of “shutting my eyes” NOT sleeping. I was only
working, drugging, drinking, and smoking. I knew something serious was wrong
and I did not want to die. As I looked around I noticed how “alone” I was.
Thoughts like “If I died, who would have known I was dead?” “No one would have
been able to help me because I have isolated myself.” I was alone only with my
best friend/girlfriend/soul mate…cocaine. I knew then that it has gone long
enough. I made the first most important decision and that was I knew that I did
not want to die (anymore). You see I did not have the courage to slice my
wrists or jump off of a building but there was a long period of time starting in
1996 to 2000 that I did want to die, I was crushing up 8 balls and snorting
however much I could in one snort. The lines looked liked 2 thumbs put together
horizontally. Enough to make a horses heart stop, so I’ve been told.

In between Aug. and Nov. of 2000 my mother along with some very close
family friends were looking for treatment centers for me to attend. My request was, a long term facility, preferably one year and it had to be out-of-state. Well, those
kind of places cost anywhere between $10k and $20k a month!! No way, my family
is not rich. So it took a while before I humbled myself before our God and
asked for “mercy” November of 2000 I was in the back of the restaurant I was
working at and I prayed: “If you are real, please have mercy on my mother and
then have mercy on me, I don’t want to die.” I was raised in the Greek Church,
I knew of Jesus but I was never taught the concept of having a “relationship”
with Him. Three days after that prayer my mother went to the family doctor and
found out about a Christian facility that housed men with life controlling
issues like drugs and alcohol, with the fraction of what the cost was for other treatment centers. Like I said I ended up at a Christian fascility, it was there where the Lord
appointed our meeting. It was there where I made the second most important
decision. After being there for 1 month I finally opened up the Bible for the
first time in my life to Psalm 40: 1-3 and read:

 

1I waited patiently for the LORD;

And He inclined to me and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry
clay,

And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;

Many will see and fear

And will trust in the LORD.

I saw my past in verse 1, my present in verse 2 and my future
(today) in verse 3. I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior in the moment.

Since then I have been walking with Him. I completed the 6 month program and
remained at the facility as staff helping others coming in for another 18 months.
After 2 years at the fascilty I wanted to help others at a more
professional level so I pursued an education. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in
Religious Education in 2007, a Masters in Counseling in 2010 and
today I am in the midst of a Doctorate of Strategic Leadership. Since then I have worked with children between the ages of 5-14 with emotional & behavioral issues often
associated with severe trauma, substance abuse exposure, and serious family
stressors, and I have also worked with adult men that struggle with life controlling
issues primarily drugs and alcohol.

I’ve been also blessed with a Godly, strong, gorgeous, and dedicated-to-Jesus, wife, her name is Angela. She is the cornerstone of my life. Angela has been there with me
from the moment I stepped into the “real world.” She has been there to support
me, encourage me and just simply love me in an unconditional way. She knew
where I was coming from, she knew I was stripped of everything and yet she saw
something shining in me, a promise for a better tomorrow, she saw JESUS in me!

It has not been easy and life is still not easy but one day of sobriety with
Christ today beats 1000 days of that time in my life (’93-’95) of making $2k to
$3k day and drowning in cocaine!! This is just a fraction of My Story. I am
looking forward to seeing how the Lord can use me to impact lives through this
blog. I am honored to share what the Lord has done and IS doing in my life. All
the glory goes to the Lord. I never did any of this with my own strength.

Posted in Life's stories. Tags: , , , . 15 Comments »

Out With The Old….In With The New (2003)

May 21, 2012 — GeorgeK

After being at TLC for 2 years it was time to move on. In those two years I learned what it meant live in freedom through Christ. There I made new friends and began new relationships. I felt safe from the “outside” world. This is something very normal when someone has given up drugs and alcohol. Nevertheless I wanted more, I craved new beginnings now. I did not feel as confidant as I do today but I did feel freedom and freedom is important to letting go of the shackles of addiction.

After going back to TLC from the college I attended preview days I only had less than a month to go back to begin classes. I could not believe that I was going back to college! I spent the last 3 weeks at TLC training the men who would take over my responsibilities when I left. It was hard leaving because THAT was my bubble; my safe haven, but, at the same time I knew god wanted me to go. When I moved into my dorm I felt different, I felt like a new person. I then remembered 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” In the two years I spent at TLC these are the kind of scriptures that helped me better understand my relationship with our GOD. I had nothing but 4 suitcases and yet because of how confidant I was in God I walked around that campus with my head held up high. It was a small college with about 300 students so EVERYONE new about me. The president of the school at the time was very close with the founder of TLC therefore word got out real quick that a Greek recovering addict from Chicago was on his way from TLC. It wasn’t embarrassing at all! I was myself and I embraced everyone like I always did anyway, difference here was I embrace people with the Love of our God not because I wanted to be accepted, THAT, only feeds my insecurities. 2003-2004 was a difficult year for me. Adjusting to being NEW and making sure the OLD was in God’s hands.

I got a job in the schools gorgeous coffee shop/student center. Hard wood floors, leather couches, fire-place, loft, etc. etc. I came in to get coffee one morning and there she was!! The same woman who I thought “surely was married.” She was behind the counter working, so I knew then that we were going to work together? But that doesn’t mean anything, she’s married, right? I looked and notice no ring, no engagement ring. Well, surely she has a boyfriend. I mean how can she be single?  I then stopped myself AGAIN for the 2nd time and bounced all those thoughts back to remaining focused on my agenda. I let go of her for the second time.

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LifeiLead’s Mission- Instilling Hope to The Hopless

May 17, 2012 — GeorgeK

Dear friends and family,

Thank you all for your contributions thus far. We have raised $480 now. There is no one set rule on how much one can give. The minimum we suggest is $10. So, we are looking for 552 more people to donate $10 each towards a good cause. We are looking to finalize this by June 15, 2012.

You can make the check payable to George Kalaras and at the bottom left “memo” you can write “For LifeiLead.” Send the check to:

Att: George Kalaras

Riverside Office

495 Easton Road Horsham,PA 19044

Or you can go to paypal.com click on “send money” and my email address that is connected with my paypal account is gnk.tlc@gmail.com

As most of you know, I started a blog called LifeiLead.com almost one year ago. There, I have been sharing my personal journey on drug addiction. I began this blog due to the fact that we know full well that the drug epidemic is rampant in our neighborhoods, our homes, and even in our churches. For one year now, communities from Illinois, New York, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania have been contacting me crying out for help because loved ones are struggling with life-controlling issues stemming from drugs, and alcohol, and other life-controlling problems. I have spoken to over 200 families in just these last 8 months and I am working side by side on weekly bases with several families presently. With my completion of a drug and alcohol program at Transformation Life Center (TLC) in 2001 and then pursuing higher education since then, it is has been my intention and ambition to make a tangible contribution by providing research, studies, compilation, consultation and educational resources pro bono to our community. Therefore, I am pursuing qualification for LifeiLead as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.  It is my intention to devote the time, research, studies, compilation, and publication of the curricula noted above, and do so for the benefit of our community pro bono. Other nonprofit recovery programs would also be able to benefit from this as well.

Purpose Vision:

  1. As a result of completing a Master’s Degree in Christian Counseling I offer consultation and guidance to people who are struggling with drug addiction. Upon a thorough evaluation of the individual’s depth of their life-controlling issues, I intend to make a referral (for men) to Transformation Life Center and a referral (for women) to Grace Home and/or Higher Ground Addiction Recovery Program for Women. Along with this, concentrating in a doctoral program focusing upon Strategic Leadership, I am consulting with different recovery centers on curriculum design and I will be developing several curricula that lend themselves to be integrated into advanced life discipline programs designed to equip recovering addicts with strong life skills.
  2. I am focusing in on our Greek community in Chicago, but I am not limited to this population or geographical location. Many families have contacted me from different states but Chicago is where the majority of the Greek families have contacted me asking for assistance. It breaks my heart that so many Greek families from Chicago have reached out to me with concern for their loved ones due to drug addiction but I am here to help and will always be dedicated in helping others.
  3. The effects that have taken place in our society from being violated by rampant addiction to drugs and alcohol, have been evidenced through the destruction of many personal relationships that might have been otherwise enjoyed, including work, family, and friends.
  4. Another issue which results from addiction is men neglecting familial, societal, and vocational responsibilities. This neglect has as a consequence – a pronounced lack of godly, serious, and equipped leaders. It is these effects and issues that constitute the fabric of my curricula.

My motivation has become my passion. I have been helped, supported, and challenged to help others in the same manner as I have been helped.  Therefore, I pursued advanced studies to give back through the curricula of structured leadership development. Along with this my wife Angela and I understand that the marriage and family dynamics and relationships play an intricate and key role in how successful the addict’s recovery is. Angela understands the Marriage and Family end of addictions at a level of excellence due to the fact that she has had hands on experience through me and our nine-year relationship, she believes in autonomous learning and has taken the liberty to learn in-depth what addictions consist of, and along with graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Education, concentrating in Child Development she had the privilege to work with children, adolescents, as well as adults with emotional and behavioral issues often associated with severe trauma, substance abuse exposure, and serious family stressors, therefore giving her insight on the family dynamics related to drug addiction. Angela is pursuing certification on Addiction and Recovery through the AACC.

This is our passion and our mission is to instill hope to the hopeless. It is what we want to invest our time, skills and energy into. We cannot do this alone so it is our intention to ask for those with a heart for addictions to volunteer their time with us in the beginning. It takes time, money, effort and countless hours of research and organization. One person can make a difference, but the impact and strength when many come together makes a greater difference. This is a need that is relevant to all everywhere. Leaders of integrity transcend cultural, political and religious barriers. While my heart and main focus is with recovering addicts, the curriculum will be applicable to many other groups, i.e. businesses, churches, college Resident Director’s and/or Assistants, for Universities etc. Our hope is that when we train leaders we train them to love people, to invest in them, to see their potential, and take delight in helping them to discover and exercise their gifts. The leaders we train will notice not only their own skills and interests, their strengths and weaknesses, but they will also be able to see those things in others to in turn train and mentor them. Our vision is to provide all of this pro bono. Sky is the limit with this and I hope you will consider being part of this journey.

Fund Raiser

In order to pursue qualification for LifeiLead as a 501(c)(3)non-profit corporation there is a financial need, therefore, Angela & I are having a fund-raiser where anyone can send us a contribution via a check or PayPal. We are looking for 600 people to send us $10 for a total of $6000 that is needed to begin the process of incorporating LifeiLead. I will give you a weekly update to the progress we make and acknowledge every one’s contributions. Please consider being part of this journey for the sole purpose of saving lives. Thank you.

George & Angela

You can make the check payable to George Kalaras and at the bottom left “memo” you can write “For LifeiLead.” Send the check to:

Att: George Kalaras

Riverside Office

495 Easton Road Horsham,PA 19044

Or you can go to paypal.com click on “send money” and my email address that is connected with my paypal account is gnk.tlc@gmail.com

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