‘MY LIFE SPIRALLED OUT OF CONTROL AT UNI’
FORMER STUDENT TELLS HOW HIS LIFE SPIRALLED OUT OF CONTROL AT UNIVERSITY
PAUL Pauly’s life was spiralling out of control.
It was while studying at university that he started taking drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and heroin.
A monthly habit soon turned into a daily addiction.
Things got so bad for the now 33-year-old that he could not pay his rent. At this point he was spending around £30 a day on drugs.
Paul, from Hillingdon, has now transformed his life and has been sober since 2018.
In a bid to help others going through what he did, Paul has bravely agreed to tell his story.
It started 10 years ago when Paul moved to the UK from Lithuania to pursue his studies in global business management.
He was a party-goer back home and when he came to the University of Coventry his habits started spiralling out of control.
“It started off when one of my friends offered me some weed which then progressed to much harder stuff,” Paul said.
“I was also drinking a lot on the side.”
Soon Paul was smoking class A drugs regularly, from once a month to once a week and finally becoming a daily addiction.
“Initially my studies were going fine, but then the drugs took over,” he said.
“Everything started to fall apart from my university life, losing my part-time work, and I only studied for two years out of three before dropping out as I didn’t want anyone to find anything on my record.”
Drugs had engulfed Paul’s life and he was spending £30 a day on them to get his hit. His lowest point was in 2013 when he could not pay for the house he was renting and began couch surfing for some time.
“Sometimes I did not even have a place to go to. I’d crash in hostels and even slept in bars. I didn’t work at the time and was just addicted.
“If you’re in a bad place everything seems to be OK when you’re on them,” he added.
“After that everything is up and down and sometimes you can’t even move.”
Paul’s girlfriend joined him in the UK but soon left him and things only got worse.
He had friends and family who tried to support him but they had not gone through his experience and could not empathise with what he was going through.
“They didn’t know what addiction was – I lost all of my friends,” he said.
“My family in Lithuania used to send me money but that went the wrong way. I was on my own.”
Paul described addiction as something you do not quite see at the outset.
Initially, he would be going out a lot, meeting friends and having a good time, but he stressed that drugs are a destroyer of lives and livelihoods.
“It destroys families and destroys life. It destroys everything – your own self, self-esteem, and people around you turn away too,” he said.
Paul got his life back on track in 2018 when he attended sessions run by Look Around, an organisation set up to help those who have been forgotten and grant them a second chance in life.
They especially help those who have fallen on hard times through drug and alcohol addiction like Paul.
“I had never been to rehab before and didn’t know what to think,” said Paul.
“But I felt loved and welcome and it was a family feeling straight off – no medical institution vibes at all.”
Paul met people who had been through similar experiences to himself and they gave him the right advice to combat his withdrawals.
“It focussed on Christian values and was a stage-based programme which takes time,” he said.
“I was living there for two years like an inpatient, but was given no medication during that time.”
Instead, he would engage in study of the Bible and live in a substancefree environment well away from his old life of abuse.
Paul progressed gradually, reengaging with society after a few months, and soon he was able to take on some work.
When he came out of the whole programme after a couple of years he felt on top the world.
He said: “It feels amazing. Beforehand I was in a lot of debt, didn’t know who to turn to and did drugs to shut these things out.”
Now Paul is stable and has a job in construction and does not think about drugs, drink or smoking.
He has not touched a drop of alcohol or taken drugs since he quit in 2018.
Now, Paul will be skydiving for Look Around to raise some funds to support the people it supports who are going through the same process he underwent.
“I’ve never done it before. I’m excited, not scared, and am looking forward to the adrenaline rush,” he admitted.
“I’ve actually been thinking of skydiving for the past 15 years and it was like a dream for me. Now I can and will be helping somebody else whilst at it. It’s a much better high than the drugs for sure.”