Faces of Recovery is an ongoing series that features stories of individuals who have successfully overcome their addiction to narcotics. For all of the bad news out there regarding the opioid and drug crisis in America, there is good on the other side.

This weeks story features Adeana McGregor.

McGregor, a Bell County native, stated that she was 13 when she first started experimenting. She began with pills, alcohol and marijuana.

“I started taking drugs because I thought it would be fun. I also wanted to escape myself and reality,” she said.

McGregor’s substance abuse ended where it ends for many people, at rock bottom.

“I was at my lowest when I had lost everything but showed no remorse,” said McGregor. “I was homeless. I wasn’t being a mother. I got into legal trouble. Yet still, all I wanted to do was get high.”

McGregor stated it took somebody “finding her” to make her realize she needed to seek treatment.

“The catalyst that made me realize I needed to wake up and get clean was someone finding me — telling and showing me life could be better without drugs. Making me realize what my life was becoming. I was facing prison or death. Everything I would miss out on if I didn’t change my path. I was living in misery,” she said.

McGregor has been sober now for 11 months.

“Recovery is not easy but it is so worth it. At first it was physically and mentally draining,” said McGregor. “I had a lot of rest and exercise. I shut myself off from the world. I had to let go of people, places and things. I started doing what I knew I needed to do instead of using excuses.”

McGregor also stated that she’s loving life now and enjoying sober activities.

“I’m finally being the mother my children deserve. I have a job and my home. I feel like everything is going the way it should. I now have a life I can look back at when I’m older and say ‘that was amazing’,” she said.