Staying on the road to sobriety

The battle goes on for the Kivalliq’s Sam Tutanuak, as he hits the four-years-and-nine-months mark of being straight and sober. Tutanuak said keeping track of how long he’s been sober helps him stay that way. “I post my time straight and sober on places like Facebook to encourage others who are thinking of becoming sober,” said Tutanuak. “If someone like me, who has been under the weight of addiction for 40 years, can make it to almost five year sober, maybe there’s people out there who will think if I can do it, they can do it too.” When it comes to people posting negative comments on social media about people struggling against addiction, Tutanuak simply said that’s their prerogative. If someone bashes him and thinks sobriety is easy, he would gladly take any opportunity to explain to them that his trip to sobriety has been anything but easy, he said. “I still have my moments of wishing I could have a toke or wishing I could have a drink. I post how long I’ve been sober, look at that number and think I can’t screw it up. “You know, I’ve made more than 1,700 days. I can’t screw this up. One bad day can jeopardize the whole time that I’ve been working on my sobriety.” Tutanuak’s not sure how much money, in total, he’s saved by staying sober, but he was spending upwards of $60 a day when he was drinking and toking. He said he could simply multiply 60 by the number of days sober, but he knows all too well there were times he would spend more than that. “If somebody was to unload on me for my struggles, of course I’d be thinking who the hell are you to be saying that to me. “But, having gone through two different times of treatment, I’ve learned to just let things like that slide. They’re the ones with the issues now that they have to deal with their demons. “I’m learning to deal with mine in a different way, as opposed to how I used to deal with it. I can’t control what people think of me. I don’t lash out at anyone because I’d rather not get charged with something if things escalated. “That’s the last thing I need to deal with. I have enough on my plate to deal with. It’s not my problem if someone thinks I’m holier than thou because I’m sober now. From the ages of 20 to 40, I spent more than a million bucks on my addictions and I don’t plan on adding to that total. People can think what they want. I appreciate those who support me, but, in the end, I’m doing this for me.”