To celebrate her anniversary of getting clean, 26-year-old Dejah Hall posted the above photos to Facebook earlier this month. "Today marks 4 years clean from heroin and meth," she wrote in the photos' accompanying caption. Hall noted that the top-left photo was taken at the height of her addiction, the bottom-left was taken on the day of her arrest in 2012, and the photo on the right was taken very recently. As you can see, the difference is jarring — and reflective of how immensely addiction and recovery can affect one's entire life.
Hall told Us Weekly that, back in 2011, she started using prescription pain medications as "a party drug" before moving on to heroin. "I fell in love with the high. It was numbing," she said. A year later, she was smoking and injecting crystal meth.
As her addiction intensified, Hall lost touch with her family, friends, and sense of self: "I was a monster in every way. I didn't care who I hurt... I didn't have anyone else or family to look to at that point," she told the Daily Mail. "I was killing myself. I was very skinny…but I still felt like I looked beautiful. That is the deception of the drug...you are not beautiful on that stuff."
Hall credits "finding God," which coincided with her arrest, for her recovery. She ended her post with a look toward the future and a message for others struggling with addiction:
"With the help of God I am completing my BA and hope to one day be a prison minister. I have a beautiful 18 month old and everyday I thank God that I am not where I once was! Sobriety is Possible."
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