EDITOR PROFILES
Meet Michael Patanella
Senior editor at ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Medium
This post introduces Michael Patanella, a senior and consulting editor of Illumination Integrated Publications on Medium. His articles, memoirs, and stories are geared towards being a voice for the voiceless. He is hoping to reach others out there still struggling.
Michael’s writing style is one that closely examines social issues like mental illness and addiction. Experiences written about are based on the journey he has been through in his personal life. He struggled with mental illness, which started around 20 years ago, and for the first several years, He lived in a world of mental illness without treatment or official diagnosis.
Michael dealt with a very dark world of Depression, Anxiety and eventually began self-medicating with dangerous drugs like cocaine and then heroin soon after. It gave him instant escapes from the daily struggles and pain that mental illness devoured him with.
He had lived in a city in America that is one of the heroin capitals of the United States, Trenton, NJ. The life of drug abuse quickly brought him to a place of total toxicity, and along the way, he hurt all the loved ones surrounding his life. He did the kind of terrible things we all say we would never do. He has dealt with active addiction, times of sobriety, and countless relapses. It took MANY rock bottoms to finally find the true help he needed.
Addiction is a place that an addict will not escape until they are ready. We can’t get sober until we want to. So his writing is self-therapeutic to him, and it also is a way of giving back to anyone out there that thinks they are in a struggle too deep ever to escape.
He shares the dark times he somehow survived, and he shares the type of tools and education that have helped him find multiple years of sobriety that has a priceless value. He writes to build his strength, and he also writes to provide hope and inspiration.
While addiction and mental illness have been the most painful things he has ever experienced, he wouldn’t change the negative experiences because those experiences have allowed him to learn more about himself while also giving him a constant reminder of the things in this world that are important.
He also lives every day, extremely blessed to have his freedom. He no longer wakes up each day, angry that another day has come, and he woke up. He now wakes up not sick and not suffering. He exposes to the world just what living handcuffed to drugs can be like.
Michael generously contributes to the Illumination Integration Publications by reviewing stories, publishing them, and being a role model to our writers. We are grateful for his wonderful support.
We selected a few stories from Michael’s portfolio of over 600 articles on Medium.
The Misery Of Addiction In A Snowstorm
Addiction Was The Storm To Survive
Addiction, A Cost Benefit Analysis
The Role Of Dishonesty In Addiction
Self Acceptance And Inner Peace
Why Smart Recovery Is An Effective 12 Step Alternative
Thank you for reading stories of Michael Patanella. You can follow him on Twitter.
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