Trace Adkins‘ life could have turned out much, much differently. The Louisiana native has survived a series of injuries, including breaking several ribs, puncturing both lungs and nearly losing his nose when his pick-up truck collided with a school bus when he was 17. While working on an oil rig as an adult, he almost lost both of his legs in a bulldozer accident, followed by having his left leg crushed when an oil tank exploded. He also severed his pinky (which was, fortunately, reattached), and was shot in the heart by his now ex-wife, Julie Curtis, in 1994.

The 60-year-old can now look back on the ups and downs of his life with gratitude, even for the times that almost cost him his life.

“It wasn’t my time to go,” Adkins reflects to People. “It was painful, but it didn’t sear my memory. The physical pain — broken bones and surgeries and bullets and getting beat up and cut — has never really bothered me. I have a high tolerance for it. It’s the broken hearts that left the deepest scars.”

The father of five also had a battle with alcoholism, which sent him to rehab twice before he finally kicked the habit for good.

“I had a moment of clarity,” Adkins says of the first time he entered rehab in 2001. “I know it sounds simple, but I just went, ‘Wow, I’ve got the world by the balls. All I got to do is stay sober.'”

After relapsing, Adkins entered rehab a second time in 2014, following a fight he had on a cruise ship. Now, six years later, the Grand Ole Opry member says sobriety has, finally, stuck.

“I’ve made mistakes, and I’ve paid for them,” Adkins says. “I try not to make those mistakes anymore.”

Now happily married to Victoria Pratt since 2019, Adkins has embraced a much healthier lifestyle, even if he doesn’t always like it.

“Victoria makes me drink kale smoothies, and she cooks really healthy stuff,” Adkins reveals. “Plus, I do a lot of physical work at home. I feel great.”

With more than a dozen albums released, including his 2021 The Way I Wanna Go record, celebrating 25 years as a country music artist, a successful acting career, which includes a starring role in the FOX TV drama, Monarch, and a still-busy touring schedule, Adkins feels a lot of thankfulness for how his story has played out, at least so far.

“It’s been a wild ride, and I’m fortunate to still be here,” he says.

Music and tour dates can be found at TraceAdkins.com.

Read ’12 Country Music Singers Who Are Sober’ here.