Gentle Path Project started out as an idea when I (Austin) spent 12 weeks in an intensive inpatient rehabilitation program called HopeQuest located in Atlanta, Georgia. If you’ve listened to Episode 0, you’ll know that a large part of my story includes being told a lot of damaging, traumatic messages about addiction and recovery that just weren’t accurate. Other people around me claimed to have had an addiction that they were just able to “get over” with some protective software and accountability reports (turns out, they weren’t really addicts). But I could not stop seeking out pornography and women to chat with online or the obsessive and compulsive masturbation that always went along with it. At one of my lowest points, I felt isolated, alone, confused, faulty and irreparably broken. I believed that I was an emotionless, guilt-ridden zombie that was forever cursed to live in despair with these sexual secrets.

And then, I found HopeQuest. I will never forget that ugly, green, faux-leather couch that I sat on that first night, surrounded by other men of all ages and walks of life. They went around the room and each man shared who they were and what had brought them to rehab. It was there, joined by some of the most broken, emotionally-unavailable, self-destructive, immature people I had ever met that I found belonging, empathy, friendship, and hope. For the first time in my life, I truly felt that I was not alone and it was all because of their willingness to be open, honest, and vulnerable and share a piece of their story with me. No, they were not perfect. Far from it! But they knew that they couldn’t do this on their own and that they needed help. 

That’s what Gentle Path Project is all about: imperfect people sharing their stories of gut-wrenching pain, trauma, abuse, loss, hopelessness, and the better way to live that they found through recovery. I believe that the greatest gifts we can offer others is our time and our stories. Both are completely unique and incredibly valuable to us. It is through the giving of our time to openly tell our stories that we break out of the shadows of isolation that our addiction has wrapped us in and embrace the light of recovery that cultivates intimacy and the ability to be seen and known by others.