SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Local author Dakotah Sanders will be holding a signing on Friday for his newly published book "ENDURE: To Suffer With Patience." The event begins at 6 p.m. at Milestone Clubhouse 206 N. Main St.
The book is a memoir about Sanders' battle through addiction, while also talking about the strength and courage of battling through a dark place.
"My book is about my development into addiction," Sanders said. "I think society has a very black and white view of what addiction is. It's so much more complex than that."
As a child, Sanders didn't know if he would be here today.
"I score a nine out of 10 on the ACES test," Sanders said. "That study can predict with great accuracy the trajectory of your life, giving the experiences you had as a child. I grew up with a lot of abuse from multiple people, and that really shaped my identity, my ways of thinking, and my relationship with the world. I started using drugs at the age of eight and that ran its course until I was 25, so 2017."
Sanders says he was at rock bottom, but has been able to turn his life around and become a light to so many people.
"I feel like its a built-in responsibility when you make it to the other side," Sanders said. "The messenger matters. If somebody who hasn't been in those shoes and walked that path, it's very difficult to listen to them, because you feel very alone and isolated. For somebody who has walked in those shoes, the weight of the words spoken from that messenger matters."
Sanders didn't realize how his book would touch hearts of others the way it has.
"People don't like to talk about the things I put in my book, especially men," Sanders said. "I've had several people reach out and say they can't even get through half of the book without having to stop, because it makes them so emotional and they'll have tears running down their face."
The fact of writing a book about his past was never something Sanders ever imagined he would do.
"I really wrote the book on accident," Sanders said. "I decided I was going to write something and it had no purpose. I was just kind of thinking a philosophical format, but it came out kind of cool. I got a hold of my fourth grade teacher that had given me a lot of compliments about my writing when I was younger. She told me she's now the president of the Authors Club for the local district. After I completed the book in three months, I got ahold of her and it kind of just grew itself and took off."
The process of coming up with a title for the book was easy for Sanders.
"I actually have 'ENDURE' tattooed on my stomach," Sanders said. "In addiction you watch a lot of your friends die, I've been to more funerals than I've been to weddings. I have the ability to endure great suffering, so I got that tattooed as a tribute to my friends that have passed away. When I wrote the book, the title was already built in and it was there."
Sanders says he plans to write another book, as well.
"This is only part one of two," Sanders said. "This is the development of my addiction, and there will be a second one coming out, as well."
You can find more information about the book signing by clicking here. If you would like more information regarding Sanders' book, click here.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.