Man who was hooked to the bottle for 18 years speaks on being sober

Known on Twitter as Chris Kim Story Teller, today he gives a gift of sobriety to people. 

“College years were a blur, I do not remember much, I was drinking and missing classes. I don’t remember much of my college days. Luckily I graduated and got a well-paying job with Safaricom,” he recalled.

According to Kimaru, his job then provided him with a comfortable life. “Money was good, my alcoholism got worse, I started missing work I was either high or hangovered.  I would miss work and come up with fabricated excuses,” he said.

Eventually, Kimaru admitted to his employer that he had alcohol addiction issues and although they were willing to help, he has not fully committed to his recovery and their efforts were futile.

“I stopped working, I did not show up at work and they looked for me for months, they finally reached out to my sister since she was next of kin and they gave her my termination letter,” he said.

At this point, Kimaru had no job or home, the only thing he had was a few of the personal belongings he had not sold to facilitate his drinking habits.

He admits that he was lucky a college friend who pitied him because he was jobless not only hosted him but also introduced him to online writing.

“My colleague came for me, took my belongings and I went to live with him at Kariobangi, within a very short period of time I was on bad terms with this friend because of my drinking. You know it difficult to live with an alcoholic,” he said.

Once again, he found himself homeless, depending on well-wishers for food. His mother sent for him and he was taken to his rural home in Karatina.

“I was so unwell and malnourished, I would vomit blood, my mother saw me and broke down because of my situation.  I was leading a very unhealthy life, I was big on prostitution, they would give me a discount,” he said.

In 2014, Kimaru was completely done with everything and he attempted suicide. According to Kimaru, his wife was two months due and he did not want his son to see him in that state.

“I struggled with alcoholism, I was drinking not to escape from my woes, but to end my life it got to a point where I would steal money my wife set aside for our child’s food and eventually my wife had enough and she left,” he said.

In 2017, Kimaru was unwell, he walked into a community center where his sobriety journey began.

“I did not look back, quitting alcohol was the best decision I ever made. Over the years, I have reconciled with my wife, we are not together but we are co-parenting and that’s what matters. I reconciled with my parents too, I had caused them so much pain, my father was on the verge of disowning me,” he said.

Kimaru is not in a relationship at the moment.