Daryl S. on Denial, Chronic Illness, and the Road to Recovery – Daryll S.

Joining us in this segment is Daryl Strawberry, a former Major League All-Star and a guy who now is an all-star in life. He has been in recovery for four years. He's joining us tonight by phone from his home in St. Louis. DaryL Strawberry is back on the road to recovery. In long-term recovery for 4 years, it is great to have Daryll Strawberry on Recovery Coast to Coast. Alright, thank you so much Neil. Pleasure being here. Darrell, tell us what happened four years ago and how it was different from perhaps other attempts at recovery for you. Well, I think all other attempts were pretty much forged on treatment. You need treatment. And, of course, everybody that has some kind of self-abuse problem, they really do need treatment, and treatment is eye-opening, and it really gives you an idea of what you're dealing with, the illness of addiction. And I think, you know, at that time when I was in the midst of baseball and pressures and, you Know, I could never just get to a settled place, You know, in my life at that time. And I realized that, You Know, it was going to take whatever it's going to take for anyone to try to get into recovery. It's going take what it takes. And it took a long road. It was a long journey. But I'll tell you one thing. I am very blessed today and fortunate enough to know that all the literature and everything Everything that I got through treatment had paid off over the last four years of my life because I've been able to put it all in action, been able to put in play in my life and just one day at a time. Anybody that tries to do this, we know that we can only do it one day at a times but sometimes it's like five seconds at a time. You just have to do it just to hang on to your tail. But the most important thing is being able to get it and know that it works. That's the most That's the great reward that we get out of being in recovery. We know that it works once we've been able to get out of that dark cloud and be able to walk into that new light and beable to see ourself as a new person. I wouldn't wish it on anybody that would have to go through these struggles that we have to grow through and the battles that we'd have to fight to get to recovery. Darrell Strawberry is joining us tonight on Recovery Coast to Coast for a few moments. Darrell, how many times did you go through treatment? I think I might have been, I might've did treatment, you know, six, seven times, you know, back and forth to different places and really never, you know, really never being honest with myself and really never warning them. You know, really never considering myself as an addict or alcoholic and realizing that, you know, that I have a serious problem. And that's the denial part, you know, we all go through coming in. We walk in that door and we're such major denial, but you know what? You have to go out there and maybe you have to go out there and continue to try some more. I mean, I don't wish anybody would have to do that. I wish I could have been one of those persons that just walked in there and says, hey, I got it the first time like some do. But some of us have to go back out there and try more, experience more. And some of them have to come back out and go through more pain, you know. And I was one of them. I was also one of the most particular persons that had to face more pain and being able to go through that and dealing with it. You know, and the great gifts I've said as I made it through, You know how in this process of this disease of addiction, some have to die so some of us can live. And it's unfortunate that it turns out that way a lot because I've seen a lot of people that didn't make it. And here I am. I am a gift that I'm able to give back and help somebody else walk through it. Darrell Strawberry joining us for a few moments tonight on Recovery Coast to Coast. Darrell, of course, a member of the New York Yankees and the Newark Mets. You're working for the Mets now. Tell us about what's happening in Darrell's life today. Yeah, so what a blessing. First of all, I have a foundation, the Daryl Strawberry Foundation. You can go to darylstrawberry.com, and you can see our foundation for action for autism with me and my wife Tracy. We live in St. Louis, and we're involved in that deeply to raise money for the program of children that are affected with autism. And also I'm working with the New York Mets. I came on board with them this year and had a full-time job We're working outreach spokesmen for them this year, doing things in the community in New York and also doing some TV play-by-play. Well, not play-bye-play, more of a pre-game, post-game in the studio for SNY. And also I work with the minor league players. I go down to the minor leagues facilities of our ball clubs and work with some of the young kids. Not only in baseball, just work with kids about life and try to give them an understanding of what it's like to play and the pressures and trying to get to the next level to get to the big leagues. Darrell, you spent a fair amount of time in prison as a result of your addiction. What did you learn from that experience? First of all, I learned one thing. That's not a place for me. That'S not a place I ever want to be again. But that's what addiction does. It takes you to the bottom of the pit. The thing about it was I ended up in a Florida prison, but here I looked at myself as no criminal, never a violent person or anything but this is what addiction does you know it takes you down to the lord's place and i yeah i'm grateful that he took me to prison instead of the grave because if it did if it took me into the grave i wouldn't be standing here talking to you today and um you know encouraging someone else you know about my life and my story and how i was able to overcome and get it and get in recovery and live a life a simple life you know a one day at a time life george steinbrenner was pretty instrumental in in helping you a number of times talk about his influence in helping you along the way? Well, George had a complete passion and heart for people that's been through struggles and has failures. And I remember when I first met with him, he talked to me. He goes, I've been in trouble before, and everybody has been in struggle before. And he understood that. And, you know, he opened his heart, and he believed in me, and he believe that I was a New York guy. He believed that I should and never left New York. I should have been a guy that stayed in New York and played my entire career, so there was an opportunity there. He opened the door for me, and I stepped through that door, and I was very grateful for his passion that he had for me and his passion, you know, that he has for his ball club to bring me over to the New York Yankees and allow me to play with that organization. Former All-Star Darryl Strawberry joining us tonight on Recovery Coast to Coast. When you take a look at your recovery, which you've been in recovery now for four years. Your recovery is really faith-centered. Talk about that. Yeah, mine's just faith- centered. You know, I've done the program. You know I have all the literature and the book knowledge of the 12-step program that's inside of me that was ingrained in me from all the years I went in there. And, you know, AA is a great program, and whatever they want to call it, the other ones, CANA, they're great programs for people. But I basically center my eyes around my faith, you know, my faith in God, you know who I truly believe in. Me and my wife believe in church, and we believe that that is the most important center of your life. If you put God first in your life, and I'm not saying you have to be going around trying to preach to people because that's not my purpose, you knows. My purpose is to live a certain way and live a godly way and do godly things. And I basically centered my whole entire life around that, and I've been able to stay clean by that just because of my principles of what I believe in the Bible has taught me. There's a certain way you live, and then when you start living a certain ways, then you allow yourself not to be in places where you know you're not supposed to be. And I think that's what truly has been able to help me overcome some of my struggles. Because most of our struggles are people, places, and things. And when you change a life, you get away from all that. But it has to be a dramatic change in your life for you to be able to get away from people, place, and thing. I'm not saying God's going to be everybody answer and church is going to be everybody's answer. But for me, it has made a tremendous amount of difference in my walk of life, my recovery of life because I no longer allow myself to, you know, be entangled with certain things and certain lifestyles that I deal with when I wasn't walking in the right direction. How difficult is it for you to be on the road and working with players and maybe in a situation where there's some triggers that could be trouble? Well, I've learned that. You know, I'm living by the principles and the biblical principles of my life that I'm leaving right. You know, but if I'm not living by those principles and then you start to stray off, you'll find yourself getting back into people, places, and things where you no longer need to be. And we in recovery, we have to truly understand that. Even if a person is not living the biblical principle ways, we know the real ingredient is the people, place, and themes of our life is what will get you in trouble and get you strayed off back into doing things Because it's just not about you. It's not about the fact that, you know, me being clean. You know, that is solely important. But am I using anything else? You know other things? And when we start allowing ourselves to use other things to satisfy us, that's just more of a setup for yourself to relapse into a different area of your life. And that leads back into the old triggers in your life so I try to stay away, completely away from all that and I try live according and try to walk one day at a time because I still know that it is always dangerous out there, no matter how long you've been clean, it's still out there. And it's Still One Day at a Time. Daryl Strawberry is joining us tonight. Daryle, you have been an inspiration to so many because you have done so much for us. You have been through treatment, and now you've put together four years, and you're able to have that one day at a time recovery. What do you say, Daryll, to perhaps young people who are in a similar situation to where you were at one point? What's your message to them? My message to those young people, if you have any idea of – they don't really have any ideia of how much pain and suffering that they're going to go through. Now, if they can catch it early at the stage of an early kid catching the fact that he's having these problems, if you can catch that early and get a grip of it and get hold of it, you'll save yourself a whole lot of time, more than you can ever imagine. You know, if I'd have really known that I would have saved myself more headaches, less headaches, you know, by getting clean earlier, you know, I would've grasped it. But, you know, I didn't know that. And that's what I try to tell young people. You got to miss out on the best time of your life if you're having problems and you don't straighten them out right now. This is the time for you to straighten them out and get on the right road because there's a great path And, you know, most people, everybody wants to say, you know, people that use drugs or drink alcohol, you know, it's just, you know, they're just a waste. No, it is not a waste. It is an illness. It is a chronic illness to the brain that affects us, you know, and we have the only way, you know, there is nothing that is going to cure us. There is no pill we are going to be able to take that is going to cure us. And I let people know that, young people know that. You know, it is controllable. It is controllable by steps, step work, recovery program, getting inside yourself, dealing with your own issues and dealing with who you are as a kid growing up and what has happened where you've been affected. Because that's basically where it all happens. And I try to help young people understand that. If you can deal with those problems early, then you have a chance. you so much for your time tonight. All right, Neil. Thank you so much. Nice talking to you too.