What a Difference a Day Makes: ‘I asked for one more chance; to survive, to be well, and I got it’

Paddy Rafter found a way to live contentedly and in freedom, having from an early age lived a life of addiction and trauma. What helped him to find his way to peace forms the inspiration for his recently published self-help book ‘The 48 Acts’.

Paddy Rafter, author of The 48 Acts pictured at his home near Freshford Co. Kilkenny. Photograph by Dylan Vaughan

IN JULY 2016, I was in the hospital, a married man, a dad of four.

At that time, I’d been living alone in a dark little cottage, and I was very self-isolated. I’d had a number of episodes with alcohol — this was the end of the second one.