For the past twenty-two years Jenny has been a nurse at a large public hospital. Furthermore she has also been teaching Sunday school at the local Lutheran Church. Although she lived in a small countryside community where it appeared like everybody knew everyone’s business, relatively little was known about Jenny. Needless to say everyone knew that she had worked many years as a nurse and that she taught Sunday school for as long as she lived in their town. Besides that, however, it almost seemed as if Jenny didn’t exist.
You can visualize the ballyhoo that took place when it was revealed that one Sunday morning Jenny had lost consciousness because of drinking and driving. To be sure, the article in the local weekly newspaper reported that Jenny not only became unconscious, but that she also was arrested for driving while inebriated because her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. This is clearly one of the alcohol effects on the body that no Sunday school teacher wants to have made known to the entire town. But this is specifically what took place, much to the chagrin of Jenny.
Jenny Gets Very Saddened About Her DUI
Needless to say, Jenny was very dissatisfied about her drunk driving arrest. Not only should she have known better about drinking and driving because of her nursing status, but she also should have conducted herself according to a more lofty yardstick because of the straightforward fact that she taught Sunday school.
After her DUI arrest, Jenny thought about moving out of town so that she would not have to feel saddened about her arrest and also so she wouldn’t have to justify her actions for the thousandth time to the other members of her community. After going over things with her preacher, however, she finally determined that she would get alcohol rehabilitation at a local alcohol rehab hospital. She did this for two simple reasons. First, it was easy for her to drive to a local counseling center. And second, she honesty wanted the word to get out among all the residents in town that she was honestly dealing with her careless drinking.
Jenny Goes Through Detox and Gets a Thorough Physical Examination
After Jenny went through detox, she got completely checked by a doctor at the drug and alcohol rehab center. She then underwent several lab procedures where it was validated that she was not addicted to alcohol but instead was involving herself in hazardous and abusive drinking. In a word Jenny was engaging in long term alcohol abuse.
Jenny was provided with the option of getting admitted as an in-patient or getting alcohol rehabilitation as an outpatient. Jenny, however, felt that she could still work as a licensed practical nurse and continue with her Sunday school teaching position if she were to be admitted as an out-patient and this is precisely what she did.
According to her rehab action plan, Jenny went to two rehabilitation sessions three times per month, she learned more than she ever wanted to know about alcohol info, she worked on her homework “duties,” and she learned how to involve herself doing things in life without having the need for drinking.
After fourteen weeks, Jenny thought that her careless drinking was under control and so she got discharged from the drug and alcohol rehab facility under the condition that she would return for follow up treatment once per month for the next ten months. Jenny agreed and followed through on her “promise.”
Jenny Makes up Her Mind to Stay Away From All Drinking Circumstances and Learns That Her Self Esteem Increases
After she finished her treatment Jenny concluded that she would be able to drink in moderation. After pondering her situation more carefully, nevertheless, she determined that she would totally abstain from all drinking circumstances.
When Jenny arrived at this conclusion, she found out that her self image became more enhanced the more she displayed her power over her life. And as her self image became more established, it seemed like she became more sociable and started going to more local functions such as music festivals, local high school football and basketball games, flower festivals, rib roasts, strawberry festivals, carnivals, and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies.
Jenny Addresses Her Abusive Drinking, Makes up Her Mind To Do Something Positive About It, and Rediscovers Her Faith
Over time, the residents in the town demonstrated more compassion for Jenny because she was involving herself with them more routinely and also because she addressed her abusive and excessive drinking and made up her mind to do something positive about it. It may have been her imagination, but it also seemed as if her Sunday school pupils showed more affection and respect for her.
Jenny is a living example of someone who had a hazardous issue and who did something positive about it. She is also someone who learned that her religious faith is not only something that is private, but that it is also something that affects the way in which an individual intermingles with other people.