Tom Shanahan - My Story Of Addiction

Spiritual Adrenaline is a nutrition and exercise based lifestyle that is practiced along with the twelve steps of recovery.

My Story

In my twenties and early thirties, I had developed a lifestyle that centered on alcohol and cocaine. Although I had stopped excessive drinking and drug use, a number of things happened in a short period of time which led me back to that lifestyle. I was wrongfully fired from a high-profile job in 2009 in a public and embarrassing manner. Then in January of 2010, when my colleague’s 18 year-old son was paralyzed from the neck down after a snow boarding accident, I agreed to assist with her law practice for a year to allow her to take time to care for her son. Just months later, in March of 2010, my brother was similarly paralyzed from the neck down in a ski accident, and I wound up becoming intimately involved in his daily care and rehabilitation in Maine. In June of the same year, my mother was diagnosed with throat cancer, which had me running back and forth to Albany to assist in taking my Mom to chemotherapy treatments and other doctor appointments.

Taking on all of these new responsibilities, on top of running my own law firm, was extremely overwhelming. Given the utter lack of even minimal help from other family members in dealing with my brother’s accident and other issues, I returned to my reliance on alcohol and drugs as a crutch to keep up with all of these demands.

This resulted in my winding up at a rehab in upstate New York in May of 2011. When I entered rehab I was 140 pounds, had bleeding gums from frequent cocaine use, cardiac and pulmonary problems from smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, and was near bankruptcy. There was no doubt I was mess. When I left rehab one month later, I was 177 pounds with a muffin top, my gums were healing, and I faced the challenge of cleaning up the messes I had created in every aspect of my life.

Nutrition, exercise and a regular twelve step practice have helped me overcome these obstacles. In the last five years, I have rarely been sick; I set out to eat right and exercise every day and on August 1, 2015 I won a physique contest for men over 35. I have made all my financial amends and no longer have the specter of bankruptcy hanging over my head. I was certified as a personal trainer in sports nutrition and weight management, all while maintaining a thriving law practice. After two years of freedom from alcohol and drugs, I was able to give up cigarettes and nicotine. In 2013, I graduated from the Institute For Integrated Nutrition. I have been free of alcohol and drugs since May 11, 2011, and cigarettes and nicotine since September 27, 2013. I measure my success by the differences between the life I was living when I entered rehab and my life today. It’s seems like looking back on a different person and a different lifetime. Through the grace of God, and by utilizing the twelve-steps and tools in this book, I was able to achieve my goals of sobriety and overall health. What follows on this website is my journey and the lifestyle I call Spiritual Adrenaline.

Spiritual Adrenaline is a nutrition and exercise based lifestyle that is practiced along with the twelve steps of recovery.

My Story

"Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most."

Buddha

Nutrition

Exercise

Vitamins, Minerals, Hormones

Smoking