In his journey of sobriety, Matt Moberg turns to art: "It keeps me alive"
MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minneapolis man is marking two years in his commitment to sobriety with the help of art.
Matt Moberg said his journey hasn't been easy, but the difficult road has led to some beautiful creations and revelations.
"I'm grateful," he said. "Another day, another chance to come out and try to be better."
Moberg is a husband and father of three young boys. He also serves as a pastor at The Table, a church in south Minneapolis, and as co-chaplain for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is also a musician. A couple of years ago, however, he said it all just became too much.
"You are Superman," he said. "You are capable, you can be in all places at once and be everybody's answer to everybody's question, but I can't. For me, it's been a very destructive force to lie about who I am."
He said that mentality led him to drink all the time.
"It got really bad," he said. "I mean, in ways that people don't know."
He struggled knowing he needed help but wasn't sure how to get it.
"I was driving home from someplace downtown, and I had been drinking pretty heavily," he said. "I was hoping I would get into an accident, or the cops would pull me over and force my hand to go into recovery or change things."
However, there was no crash or police to pull him over, but there were three young boys at home who looked to him as a role model.
"The idea in general of, if I need a drink to be a good dad, that's not who I'm aspiring to be," he said. "That's not what I think is good, what's healthy."
He started going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and also took up art as a suggestion from his therapist.
"It's preemptive," he said. "It's how I make sure I don't go back to what I once was. Part of it too is I'm not on a stage. There's not a guitar on me, there's not a pulpit before me, I don't need to be anybody. This is just, 'Can you just let whatever comes out, come out.'"
He's a self-taught artist who now dedicates time to his craft just about every day and finds bliss between his brush strokes.
"Every stroke I've tried to think about what is the good gift that I got to wake up to today," he said. "The beauty is it takes a lot of strokes to make a big painting."
He said each colorful creative gives him meaning.
"It keeps me alive," he said. "It keeps me sane."
He now sells his pieces on his website and has also done some work for the Timberwolves including one that was a part of this season's city edition jersey release. But with success comes setbacks. Moberg has relapsed twice in the past couple of years - most recently last summer when his wife, Lauren, found him on the floor unresponsive and had to call an ambulance.
"I remember the smell of the hospital," he said. "I remember looking at her and I remember saying, 'I don't know why I'm here.'"
Moberg said with every relapse, there's a chance of recovery.
"For me, the idea of, 'I just fell flat on my face, but I can get up again' is powerful," he said.
More than nine months have passed since his last relapse. He said this is the longest he's been sober.
"I feel really good right now," he said.
Art continues to be his constant and a way for him to slow his mind. He said he hopes it serves as a reminder to others that things aren't always black and white, and each piece is progress, not perfection.
"It's not over," he said. "That would be my number one message."
He said he hopes his story will serve as an inspiration to others struggling and that every day is a chance to keep fighting.
"Life is a gift and love is the point and the more you actually try to outrun who you actually are, the more you miss out on that gift," he said.
April is Alcohol Awareness Month - an opportunity to help remove the stigma associated with alcoholism and promote treatment for those struggling.
For more information on resources for alcohol addiction, click here.