ow did you become a user of
drugs and/or alcohol?
I didn’t drink or use drugs until I was
post heart surgery at 18. In Finland that’s old
to start drinking. It all started casually.
When did you realize you had a problem?
I think I was around 25? It was the moment
where getting high took priority over
everything else and I knew I had a problem.
There was a moment where it became more
important than anything else and then I fell
deeper and deeper into it. The partying at
some point turned into coping and masking
the pain. It wasn’t really about having fun.
How bad did it get? What was the
breaking point that made you decide it
was time to stop/get help?
Ohhhh... It got bad. I was going to lose
everything—my family, my friends, my
contracts. I had screwed up all my finances. It
was all coming to an end for me. The last one
that brought me to my knees was a five-month
bender. The drugs stopped working and I was
so over being sick. The chemicals weren’t
working anymore, trying to go up or go down,
get evened out. One day we were sitting by
the bowl. I got an invite to a party and I just
said no and I think the next morning I started
calling for help. It’s kind of a blur.
How did you get sober?
Eventually I got myself to a meeting and with
the help of friends and family and AA.ARTO SAARI
What are the challenges of staying
sober?
Every day is a challenge. This disease is real.
We call it “stinking thinking” in the program
and it’s a personality disorder. A lot of it
comes down to self love and addicts and
skateboarders alike don’t have much of that.
And it is a progressive disease. You really have
to watch it when shit goes haywire. It creeps
up on you. The thoughts get dark.
What are the rewards of staying sober?
Well, I got my family back. It took some time
and convincing, but Ella and Mimi came
home after a year of sobriety. I got back to
skating and shooting photos. I focused more
on photography than ever and people could
actually count on me again.
It sucks when people write you off, but
people also don’t know what to do with
addicts. Mimi, who had stood by my side
through some bad times, eventually married
me and we had a beautiful baby boy named
Ragnar. We moved to Hawaii to raise the kids;
somewhere filled with surfing and skating and
clean oceans. I get to drink a lot of coffee now
and I eat way more ice cream than I needto and I found new passions and interests. It
was really hard to retain any new information
when you’re brain is cooked. I took up surfing
at the ripe age of 35 I could never have done
that if I was high or using.
What advice would you give to someone
who wants to quit?
As cliché as it sounds it starts with “one day at
a time.” Sometimes it’s one minute at a time,
one second at a time. The only power you
have is over this moment right here, right now.
The most important thing you can do is to
ask for help. Then try and surround yourself
with people that aren’t gonna hand you a beer
and a joint and get out of your normal routine
for awhile. You could call a stranger that is
sober and ask for help and they will help you.
If you have an inkling of a feeling that you
should quit, then you should quit. There are
no mistakes in getting sober. It’s different for
everyone, no perfect approach, the important
thing is just to try and give yourself that break
from whatever monkey is on your back. I’m
celebrating my seventh year sober this June.
I couldn’t have stayed alive doing what I was
doing, so this works better for me.H
“IT ALL
STARTED CASUALLY”
Arto and Ragnar in
rock ‘n’ roll paradiseSHIRLEYSHIRLEY