My name is Patrick A. Roland. I am a bi-polar, alcoholic, drug addict widow who is sober happy and healthy.

I use these powerful, stigma-filled words and identify myself in the brave and powerful way I do because I am taking my life back. If I own who I am, I can no longer be undone and broken by others in the way that I have been all my life before I boldly and loudly proclaimed my truth. I am no longer a victim of my past. I am now a survivor, dancing swiftly and joyfully into a future filled with possibility.

I’m doing what I do to save myself and others like me from the pain and hurt caused by name calling and abuse. I am beautifully broken and perfectly imperfect and I don’t care if you know it. I am not afraid of who I am, and it…