Dave

Getting put in police cells to sober up, drink driving, crashing cars, being in car accidents with other drunk drivers, losing jobs, getting thrown out of moving cars...

When I look back at that stuff now it seems like this hazy fog way, way back in the distance and sometimes, it may sound a bit weird, but sometimes it feels like a dream. It’s weird.

It’s pretty hard when you’re waking up and you’re saying, “I’m not going to drink today,” and then hop back on it. You’re back on it again. It’s like, where was it? Where was the fight to not do this?

I saw the bigger picture, and for me I saw what was happening to people around me and it was from that point almost that I knew that it was okay, not that it was wrong, but I finally felt like I fitted in. Well, actually, I figured out I didn’t have to fit in. I didn’t have to fit in with nobody, I just had to be comfortable in my own skin and have my connection to the whenua.

I still have the same problems I had, but I’ve learned how to deal with them.

Sometimes we only know what we know. So if we grew up in a family where there was lots of alcohol and drugs ... it’s not the only way.