High Achiever: The Incredible True Story of One Addict’s Double Life

by Tiffany Jenkins

Notwithstanding its hyperbolic title, High Achiever: The Incredible True Story of One Addict’s Double Life could be dismissed as a run-of-the-mill autobiography of a recovered drug addict. Tiffany Jenkins recounts in vivid detail her descent into the underworld of drugs and drug dealers. On the way, she describes a life defined and controlled by the textbook traits of an addictive personality: deception (leading the double life of a policeman’s respectable fiancee), manipulation (her constant lies to cover up anything she couldn’t legitimately explain), impulsive behavior (relapsing when she finds a bottle of pills in her friend’s bureau; stealing money from her sister when she isn’t looking), criminal behavior (robbery and drug dealing), blame-shifting (scapegoating her friend Kayla when she relapsed, simply because it was believable), and sensation seeking (her tendency to seek out a drug-induced high in the first place). And her descent causes the all-too-predictable collateral damage to friends and family.

But perhaps what distinguishes High Achiever from other self-revealing life stories in the redemption genre is Ms. Jenkins’s convincing use of two potentially ruinous events to explain the radical, and ultimately saving, pivots in her life. Each event presented her with a life-changing choice. The first opens the book: her arrest and conviction on multiple felony charges. The other: an unwanted pregnancy while incarcerated. In response to the first event, when presented with options, she wisely chooses a sentence that includes a mandatory drug rehabilitation program. (A large portion of the book is devoted to Ms. Jenkins’s harrowing experiences in jail; including numerous physical confrontations with guards and other inmates, detoxing and solitary confinement.) In response to the second event, after choosing to give birth and raise her first child, Ms. Jenkins’s maternal instincts triumphed over her addiction to drugs.

The resolution is predictable and brief, yet still satisfying. We learn that Ms. Jenkins now leads a productive life as a motivational speaker (and author) and popular on-line blogger. She is married with a husband and three children. She has been clean for seven years.

I listened to this book on Audible, which was narrated by the author. Ms. Jenkins has an expressive voice and style. If you are in the mood for an inspirational story, I recommend High Achiever.

- Linda Felter