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Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare Annual Enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th.
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Light, comfy, good to go to. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories. And we tell stories about everything on the show, including yours.
Send them to ouramericanstories.com for some of our favorites. And now we bring you one of our regular occurring segments brought to you by the help of our friends at Reader's Digest. Every year they host a competition where folks submit stories about why they consider their town to be the nicest place in America.
Here's Robbie with our latest story from Reader's Digest. And it comes from Columbiana, Ohio. Don Arthurs was born and raised in Columbiana, Ohio.
Although his primary interest laid in music and performance, he realized that probably wasn't going to pay the bills. After a few years off after high school and some prompting from a friend, Don enrolled at Youngstown State University and received his degree in computer information systems and naturally started applying for jobs. Sent 35 resumes out and got two offers because Youngstown, Ohio was not really known for being a tech corridor or anything like that at the time. I ended up taking a job with a company that did audience response systems.
It was a really interesting concept and I really enjoyed that. I worked for that company for about a year and a half. The year was 2001 whenever the 9-11 attacks occurred. My position, since it was so heavily reliant on travel after 9-11 happened, it hurt that business quite a bit. So within the course of, you know, just a week or so after those attacks occurred, they lost a large percentage of their clients. They had to make some cuts to the staff and I was one of the cuts. I was pretty devastated, obviously. I had the insurance for my family.
My wife taught at a private Christian school, so she didn't have insurance. And just two weeks after that, we found out that we were going to have our first child. So it was like a very stressful time. And I remember meeting with the two fellows that I worked with in Boardman, Ohio. And I remember we just we got together and we were talking about how we had ideas and that kind of spawned a conversation about starting our own company. And so a few months later, we ended up starting a company called Turning Technologies. We ended up gaining some traction and got in with some book publishers that offered our product along with college textbooks. So that worked out rather well because, you know, overnight we had this massive sales force then pushing our product. And it really, really spawned early growth there for our company.
After so long, we ended up deciding to try to bring in some outside investment in to help grow more and ended up selling majority share of our company then. In 2006, I started talking with a fellow named Len DiRico, and he was a minister at a local church here in Columbia. Len would just share his heart and his desire for drama ministry that he wanted to create. And I guess over the course of a year, I really, you know, started to buy into the idea. And I thought, you know, that would be something that I think would fit well within the town of Columbia. You know, people kind of referred to Columbia as like a little Mayberry where most of the neighbors knew each other and most of the people were friendly and that sort of thing.
But so we ended up talking quite a bit about it. And after the course of a year, we started looking at buildings in which we could house such a drama ministry in. And I remember we looked at like some old grocery stores that had just nothing really seemed to fit. In the meantime, there was still an operating cinema in the downtown right on the square. It was called the Columbiana Cinema at the time.
And, you know, originally it opened up as a movie theater called the Manos Theater back in like 1952. It had come to a point where it was in it was in need of fixing up because it was it was getting in pretty bad shape. And we had the conversation one day. I wonder if the wonder if the owner would consider selling that to us. So we ended up meeting with him and told him kind of our idea of what we wanted to do. And he agreed that he would be willing to sell it. So we ended up purchasing in. Well, I guess it was February of 2007 is when we purchased the Columbiana Cinema. But at that time, Len, actually, because of some personal reasons there had to he was going to be the one kind of running the ministry, the drama ministry. And then he just because of personal reasons, decided that he wasn't able to do it at that point.
But, you know, over the course of the year, my wife and I got pretty excited about the idea and we didn't necessarily know how it was going to work out because I was still working a full time job as a software engineer. But we we made the decision to go ahead and purchase the building anyhow and to start the renovation process to see where it leads. And you're listening to Don Arthurs tell his story. And in the end, you'll be hearing more about his town story. Columbiana, Ohio, and in the end, towns are filled up a people and their stories and what they decide to do with their town determines what happens to that town. This story comes to us in conjunction with work with Reader's Digest. And as we had described earlier, they host a competition where folks submit stories about why they consider their town to be the nicest place in America and our story about Columbiana, Ohio, about Don Arthurs desire to start a drama ministry on his own dime in an entrepreneurial way.
And in the end, as you're listening, a pure leap of faith into the unknown. And this is in the end, what makes towns to our entrepreneurs, whether they be the kind who run businesses or the nonprofit types who start enterprises like a drama ministry. This is what makes and shapes our communities when we come back. The story of Don Arthurs, the story of Columbiana, Ohio here on Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the great American stories we tell and love America like we do, we're asking you to become a part of the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to our American stories dot com now and go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming.
That's our American stories dot com. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year. And UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices for those eligible. Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age sixty five, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.
It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHC Medicare health plans dot com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives.
I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop. But for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot and I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it like a good neighbor. State Farm is there.
Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. Doing household chores can already be time consuming and tedious, and there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done. I mean, that can be overwhelming for anyone. So if you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life, try all free clear mega packs. All free clear mega packs are bigger packs with two times the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular pack so that you can tackle any laundry load without the worry. All free clear mega packs are also 100 percent free of perfumes and dyes and they're gentle on skin, which is great for any family's sensitive skin needs. My family, we definitely have sensitive skin, so the next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is that's caused this big pile of dirty clothes, just know that all free clear mega packs, they have your back.
Purchase all free clear mega packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types. And we continue with our American stories and the story of Don Arthur's and the story of Columbiana, Ohio, and the story of why they were selected by Reader's Digest as one of the nicest places to live in America. When we last left off, Don had just brought an old movie theater in downtown Columbiana to use that space for a drama ministry.
Back to Don. We opened it up on May 8th of 2008 as the Main Street Theater. So we still ran some first run movies there for about a year, year and a half. But intermixed with the movies, we would try to start our own little productions. We didn't have a separate production company or anything, but we would work with some local artists there.
And one in particular, his name was Jim Kochenauer. He he had written a couple scripts there and he had called me up the one day and asked if I would be interested in looking at one in particular called Christmas in Columbia. And I think it was so I met with him and it was it was a cute script and thought that the the town would enjoy something like that.
And somewhere around then, Eric Offenberg, Brown's former artistic director, came onto the scene. I'm just I kind of came in at the beginning, but I wasn't there at the very beginning. I graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in theater, and I was determined that I was going to work in theater, despite my parents saying, you'll you'll never get a job in theater. And I did in Cleveland at Caramoo House, which is kind of an African-American cultural center in East Cleveland. And I worked in their drama theater for youth program. One of the things I found out is that I absolutely hated professional theater. It was too catty. It was it was a difficult time.
Lots of backstabbing and things like that. And so I kind of shunned away from theater at that point. Also, at that point, I got married and I moved to this area, to the Columbian area.
Essentially, I wasn't doing any theater. I worked in retail for a while. But then I decided the one part of my job there that I liked was teaching drama to three and four and five year olds on Saturday mornings. And so I thought, well, teaching might be a way to go. My my family are all educators. And so I gave it I started I went back to school, got my license to be a special education teacher. I worked here in the Columbian area for 15 years doing that. During that time, I also kind of got sucked into Crown Theater.
So probably 10 years that I stayed away from theater after had a bad taste in my mouth from it. I was driving through town and they had a sign up that said the voice of Main Street competition. And I'm a performer.
I enjoy singing. And so I thought, well, check it out. So I called and got the information and had an audition for that. And they picked folks. And it was kind of like a like an American Idol kind of thing. And so there were a number of performers. And this was actually the second year that they had done it.
So somebody had already won the year before, but they they had said, if you win this, you get these this prize. And then you you also get to perform before shows and movies and things like that that we have throughout the year. So you're like the voice of Main Street for the year. I wasn't looking for that.
I was just looking for performing. And so I thought, well, I'll get back into it. And I won that second year. And then the theater closed down again. Like he had purchased it, renovated it and decided this isn't working. I'm not making any money, so I'm closing it down. I felt bummed out because I felt gypped because I was the voice of Main Street at that point.
And then it closed and I was like, go figure one month after I do that, they close. Well, they opened up about a year later, but they were doing a kids show. Crown had organized and they were doing a kids show.
So we ended up putting a cast together. And keep in mind, I know very little about theater at this point. And in fact, we really didn't even have adequate stage lighting or even the backstage area is pretty small because the building was not originally designed as a live production theater.
It was just a movie theater. And I brought my daughter to audition for that and ended up helping direct it and through the whole process. So and that's kind of how I got involved in directing here as well. But we ended up doing the best we could and we put together it was a really cute show and we had a nice response from the community. They enjoyed they enjoyed getting involved with it and being part of it and then also attending.
And we thought, you know, that was that was fun. It was a really neat way to, I guess, get involved in the community, you know, as an outreach and Crown was trying to grow and having difficulty. And at that point, I said to them, hey, we you know, I can help you put together a winning season, something that's going to put people in the seats and will be profitable and go along with your mission with Crown Theater. And I said, if if there's a way to to pay me to do it, I can put a whole lot more time into it.
But if if not, I'm willing to volunteer those services. And so we did we picked one of our first seasons, which was pretty successful, and then just kept going from there. And that's how I kind of got involved with Crown Theater. What we were doing, we wanted it to be family friendly so that it was a safe space for, you know, parents to drop their kids off and they didn't have to worry about, you know, what what's going to, you know, what their kids might be exposed to. Or, you know, we we basically just wanted a place because at this time, you know, I had I had three kids at the time and, you know, I just thought how important it was as a parent to not worry about, you know, where my kids are and what they're doing. You know, if they're getting into something, they shouldn't.
And so we we just wanted this place to be a place that parents could drop their kids off and not worry. You know, we leave the drama on the stage. In other words, when you come to play practice, it's not about who said what, who did what gossip, that kind of stuff. More more so just general kind of moral code of conduct that we have where, you know, you're not talking behind people's back.
You're not saying bad things about other folks. There's no you don't want to make anybody feel uncomfortable. So and some other issues that, you know, swearing is something that we don't do because a lot of times we have kids around and a lot of times our goal was to our goal was to make family friendly entertainment. And so that limits us to the number of shows that we can do just because some of the content stuff we didn't feel was appropriate for a full family to come and see. So as Crown kind of grew, I kind of implemented my my my experience of hating the exclusive theater community to an inclusive theater community. So we wanted to pick shows that had that wanted to give everybody a chance to be in. So typically when we have auditions here, Crown, we we typically get one hundred and twenty people that audition and we put one hundred and twenty people on the cast list.
And obviously some of those drop out. And but we like big casts. That first season, we just started building that up and running the theater as as a family. It really with a family kind of business model. And we're listening to Don Arthurs and Eric Offenberg tell the story of how they created a community theater that mattered in their small town of Columbiana, Ohio, and why that matters as it related to this small town becoming one of the nicest places to live in America.
Thanks to a Reader's Digest, Reader's Digest does this contest every year. And this is how we improve towns, folks. In the end, great community spaces, great restaurants, great arts, great entertainment and great, great places where families can gather. But it takes people to do it. And when we come back, we continue with the story of Don Arthurs and his merry band of warriors who decided to improve their small town.
That story continues here on Our American Stories. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year. And UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.
It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCmedicarehealthplans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop, but for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot.
And I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. Doing household chores can already be time consuming and tedious. And there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done.
I mean, that can be overwhelming for anyone. So, if you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life, try All-Free Clear Mega Packs. All-Free Clear Mega Packs are bigger packs with two times the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular pack so that you can tackle any laundry load without the worry. All-Free Clear Mega Packs are also 100% free of perfumes and dyes and they're gentle on skin, which is great for any family's sensitive skin needs. Which my family, we definitely have sensitive skin. So, the next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is that's caused this big pile of dirty clothes, just know that All-Free Clear Mega Packs, they have your back.
Purchase All-Free Clear Mega Packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types. And we return with our American stories and with our final segment from Columbiana, Ohio's Crown Theater Productions and what sets them apart from other small town theater companies. Let's pick up where we last left off. And we encourage people to, you know, a lot of times theaters in an area are territorial and that kind of thing, we encourage our folks if they're not getting what they want at Crown to go to other places. But we've had a lot of folks that have gone to other places and come back and said, I had a parent that said, first of all, our first rehearsal at this theater, I've never heard the F word used so much. And we appreciate what we have there at Crown and that kind of thing. But like I said, we encourage all genres, all of the different theater areas for all of our family members, whatever's going to make them excited about being in the arts. You know, we do we do sometimes catch a little flack or a reputation of being kind of goody two shoes, that kind of stuff from other theaters.
But that's a formula that works for us. And it's really cool to see full families coming to be in a show. There's kind of a it's almost we almost call it like a no risk theater because in most shows, when I say most, there's certain shows that we can't cast everybody that auditions. But when we have a show and we can have a giant chorus in that show, it's kind of it's nice for kids to come and audition and not worry about not getting a part or something like that, but they know they're going to have a part.
And then parents and siblings and things like that. We have full families that come and do theater together, which is a great opportunity in ministry for families as well. We have people that come back and say, well, I really don't like this show, but I'm going to audition for it anyways because I want to be a part of it. And that's that's just a testament to the folks that are involved with Crown and the staff here and everything that everything that gets put into it. But in 2015, Crown Theatre would stumble onto a new type of production, one that would change their theater community in the town of Columbiana for good.
Debbie Solman became our executive director for Crown Theatre Productions. Debbie had attended a special needs production at a local church in Canton, Ohio. That experience, I think I was in 2015, she said when she left, you know, she was moved so much by their performance and the I guess the authenticity of the performance. Like when these folks got on stage, like it wasn't like they were, you know, sometimes in theater you can you can really deal with like egos, you know, you're dealing with artists, you know, so you get a lot of egos and stuff. But she said it was so different, you know, like everybody just they were just there to have fun.
And it was so, so different. It was like a relief, like, wow, like that's that's why we want to do it just, you know, for the fun and the love of it, not necessarily to see your name up on a billboard or anything like that, you know, I'm saying. So she came back and I think it was at our next board meeting. She had told the rest of us about her experience and how much she said it moved her.
I think she was moved to tears after the performance. She said it was so good and and asked what we thought about trying to start our own special needs productions. I mean, of course, we were all on board.
We love the idea. And Eric Offenberg at the time, he was our artistic director for Crown. Me being a special education teacher for 15 years, it was just kind of my world's collided at that point. And we started our special needs production at this point. We were just planning on doing one show.
We did The Little Mermaid. Every actor has some sort of a special need. And then we have a great group of volunteers that we call attendants. Each actor gets assigned an attendant that helps them out whatever needs they are.
And, you know, we push a little bit for independence and for growth. So if an actor needs somebody on stage feeding them each line right behind them and that attendant dresses in black, the actor is in a costume and they and they stand there and feed the lines to them. But if they're able to memorize a line and, you know, some attendants stand on the sidelines and in the wings and send their actor on when it's time and get them when they come off and change costumes and that kind of thing.
But we make it possible for everybody to participate no matter what the special need is. And so we've kind of built that to two shows a year with our special needs program. A year or so of putting on those productions, one of the grandmothers, she couldn't believe, you know, the difference that she saw even in her grandson when he was up on stage. It actually moved her so much that she saw where Reader's Digest was doing their search for the nicest place in America for 2019. So she wrote a letter to them telling them about Crown Theatre Productions special needs program. They contacted us and came out and started doing the interviews and and such. And then they went out into the community and and they really removed as well when they saw the productions because we invited them to watch some of the auditions and the rehearsals.
And that year, Columbiana, Ohio, became Reader's Digest's nicest place in America. I remember the day that we had the announcement and the excitement in that room was just I thought the roof was going to go off and stop. You know, there is so much excitement, but it was a really fun experience. Crown Theatre's special needs program did more than they had ever imagined it could. Once people saw the change in their kids and stuff, when they came out for the productions, how it like it gave them some opportunities that they had never had before, where, you know, they were had community, they had basically a group to get to know each other and to see some come in for the first day of auditions.
Being very reserved and kind of like in their shells over the course of several months that they got together. By the time the production, you know, like they were just almost different kids. Like they just came to life. And it was just remarkable. The parents were like so grateful for the opportunity and the change that they even saw that it brought with their kids. And it was such a cool experience all around. And it really became just a really cool environment where you saw people get along that maybe outside, you know, over Facebook, that sort of thing, maybe wouldn't get along, wouldn't even consider talking to each other.
You know what I mean? Like whenever they came in the doors of the theater, they became family. And that was the thing that, you know, was really big for us is we called it our Crown family, you know, because families have dysfunction, you know.
But at the end of the day, you know, you still love your family. After 13 years of running Crown Theatre Productions, the Arthurs were faced with the fact that they could no longer financially sustain the theater. But with the impact that Crown had made on the community, Columbiana jumped into action and Eric Offenberg, now the chair of the Columbiana Chamber of Commerce, has started the Columbiana Cultural Collective, a nonprofit who hopes to buy and continue operating the theater in Crown Theatre Productions. I speak for my wife and I here in that our heart is that, you know, the dream of theater, of what Crown Theatre Productions has been able to create this family in this town, our heart is that it continues to live on for generations.
And a great job is always by Robbie on the production of that piece and that storytelling. And a special thanks to Don Arthurs for telling his story and for inspiring anybody listening that you can make a difference in your town. You can start that local theater.
You can start that local restaurant. You can build up the cultural identity of your town and make it a better place to live. And now he's hoping the Chamber will pick it up and run with it. He gave his time. He gave his money and the ideas out there. And it has clearly made Columbiana, Ohio, one of the nicest places in America to live.
The story of Columbiana, the story of Don Arthurs here on Our American Stories. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.
It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCmedicarehealthplans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop. But for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot.
And I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. All free clear mega packs are also 100% free of perfumes and dyes and they're gentle on skin, which is great for any family's sensitive skin needs. Which my family, we definitely have sensitive skin. So the next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is that's caused this big pile of dirty clothes, just know that all free clear mega packs, they have your back.
Purchase all free clear mega packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types. And we return to our American stories. And up next, we're going to hear from Ryan Stewart, who's been on our show before and told us the story of how he became a professional dog walker in New York City. Today, Ryan shares with us the importance of simply helping other people. Ryan struggled with addiction for a majority of his life and it was only through the help of others that he was able to come out on the other side. Here's Ryan with his story. I suppose I could say I used to be an alcoholic, but supposedly that means you're an alcoholic for the rest of your life.
So if you're reflective, you can look back and you can see the markers that were always there. Like when we got introduced to beer in the seventh grade, who was the one kid who drank too much and acted like a fool? It was me, right? Like all the other kids seem to be able to like get drunk or whatever and not destroy anything. So the markers were always there, that alcohol wasn't good for me. But I didn't really totally spiral out of control until like maybe in my thirties.
I drank too much, but I somehow was what's called functional. And then I slowly start drinking more and I start drinking more. And then when I get in trouble drinking, you know what I mean?
Like let's say I'll get in a bar fight, you know, I'll get arrested or something like that. Then I have that to deal with, that type of shame, you know, and so that adds to it. I was in a dark place, you know, drinking and drugging and not liking myself. And then I got these ideas that happiness was maybe being famous or rich. I was in a haze like for decades, you know, like trying to be an actor and a dancer. The reason I wanted to be a dancer was because I watched females when they watched guys who moved well and they liked guys who could move well. So I'm like, okay, I'll be a dancer. And so New York City is the center of the dance world and so that's where I'm going to go. So I came to New York City very quickly and I decided to go to this Alvin Ailey school and I got a scholarship there. I was, you know, I was pretty good, I was whacked out, flexible, which helps, you know. Then I talked with my primary ballet teacher who was David Howard and another mentor I had named Hillary Cartwright and they were like, well, we know Benjamin Hark-Harvey over at Juilliard, you know, he's the director of the dance program. And so they sent me over there, I got to meet him and then I started doing the interview, you know, the process to matriculate into Juilliard.
I was taking an adult ballet class at night because, you know, you take the professional classes during the day but if you're studying and you want to be the best, you keep on taking classes all day long. And so at night the adults came in and one of them was a doctor and she noticed this bulge from my neck and she said, you know, why don't you come in for, you know, let me check that out for you. And I laughed it off and said, you know, like I don't have any money, you know, I don't have any money or any insurance and she said, don't worry about that. I went to her hospital and she somehow waved me through everything, you know what I mean?
Like I just went in and got a chest x-ray and was out in a busy hospital with no insurance and no money. And that night I was taking class and then the pianist stayed and played for me so I could do like practicing, you know, big movements and she came in with the big yellow envelope, you know, that has my chest x-ray and she said, I think you better sit down. And that's when I got my cancer diagnosis.
And she said, we're going in tomorrow to Memorial, I know someone at Memorial Sloan Kettering. And she got me into the best hospital like in the country for cancer. So I did 14 months of chemotherapy and lost all my hair but it was probably the happiest time of my life. It might seem odd to be diagnosed with cancer and have it the happiest time of your life but I didn't have to worry about becoming something, about being successful, you know, that pressure that, you know, what am I supposed to do with my life?
Who am I supposed to make happy? I didn't have to worry about any of that, I just had to go to sleep at night and get better. And all that's what everyone told me, you know, the doctor's like, you know, just get better. And that made my life really simple. All the nurses and doctors knew me, you know, it's like cheers, like everyone knows your name there.
It was a happy time in my life. It was a lot different, yeah, like from having everyone care about you to taking SSI, you know, because I was disabled due to my treatment and I was still getting some checks for it and one of my friends says, how could you take that money? Look at you, you look like you can work. And he shamed me and he was right, you know, I could work.
And so the next interview at the office, when they ask you like are you feeling bad, you know, like blah, blah, blah, how do you feel? The guy sort of encouraged me, you know, to like keep the checks coming, you know, he says you're only like a few months out from cancer treatment, you know what I mean? And I said no, like I don't want any more checks, I can work. And he was in disbelief, like in disbelief, but my friend had shamed me and so I took myself off SSI and, you know, that's the contrast of like everyone caring for you to having like your friend saying you're a lazy bum, you can't take money, you can work.
When I left the hospital, my doctor said you cannot because you took a cardiotoxin as one of your chemotherapies, you cannot lift really, really heavy weights and you cannot take drugs that accelerate your heart rate. So I disliked myself so much that I joined CrossFit. That's weightlifting for crazy people and I became a cocaine addict. So that's how much I loved myself. For a lot of people it's something really terrible happens, like they get a DUI and they go to jail for the first time in their life and they're shocked out of it.
You know, like some one moment happens to them. For me it wasn't like that, it was just like at one point I just thought to myself that there's nothing left of me, like I'm just a tumbleweed now, just blowing in the wind, there's nothing left of me and I knew it was time to quit. There's a reason people don't quit even though they're ruining their lives and they're killing themselves, it's not easy to quit. The first 90 days, that was the hardest thing I've ever done.
Going 90 days without drugs or alcohol. I always thought like you see people accept awards or whatever or talk about their career and how like they worked so hard and you know they did a lot on their own blah blah blah, that wouldn't be what I say. I would be saying like every step of the way someone help me and do anything alone.
You know it's like the Peloton, you know, the beauty of the Peloton which is the group of riders when you watch the Tour de France, it just pulls, the people in the front do the work because they hit the wind and so they're working the hardest and they go until they're tired and then they drift to the side and someone else takes their place and they come and they drift back to the middle of the pack or the back of the pack and then they rest there and everyone takes their turn, you know, like hitting the wind. There's people who will step up and help you and want nothing back from you. And now I know the path forward is to always help others and I'm not doing it to try to be nice because I'm not really a nice person. I'm quite a jerk sometimes but if you hold the door open for someone or you help someone with like a heavy load or something like that, like you know you're walking down the street and someone's like struggling with something and you help them for maybe five seconds or ten seconds, you forget your own problems and your own concerns and you help that person and that person forgets their own problems and they're like, someone's helping me and both of you are just in the moment. You're not in your own head thinking about yourself being alone.
You're in the moment with another human being. Through let's say a lifetime of messing up and just face planting right into the pavement and really having a miserable life that I brought upon myself, I somehow retain the ability to learn from it, like I learned from this and I've had fantasies before about being rich and famous and wearing nice clothes and having a nice car and you know what, it's not me. I was able with God's grace to remember who I truly was at the core and I only made it out by letting other people help me.
And a beautiful job on the production by Madison and a special thanks to Ryan Stewart for bearing, well, bearing just about everything. He talked about his early time and struggles, bar fights and of course arrests and that's a struggle. When it starts hitting arrests, you're in trouble. I was in a dark place.
I was drinking and shrugging. By the way, it simultaneously had this tremendous talent. You don't just stumble into Alvin Ailey and Juilliard.
We have some people here who've been involved in the New York theater and know what those institutions are and this is the best of the best in the world. And there's this lady who notices something wrong with this young man and she's a doctor and as he said, she just waved me through everything and the cancer diagnosis came and he said it was the happiest time of his life because he wasn't working on anything else but being better. And then of course he just kept going until he hit bottom and that's what happened. And then the pathway back, serving others, getting out of yourself, getting great people around you. We love to tell stories of hope like this, redemption like this and God's grace as he said in the end and feeling gratitude for who you are and where you are in life.
Ryan Stewart's life, we love stories like this here on Our American Stories. Music Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.
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