By its very nature, substance use disorder is referred to as a relapsing condition. I would much rather fail and keep trying than stay stuck on a one-way path to destruction. And worrying about what others may think if you return to use is outside of your control. You focus on you and the people who are supposed to be in your life will support you along the way.
What Being Sober Really Feels Like
How will you explain your absence to everyone? You might even think that addiction rehab is all about shaming addicts with their addiction and trying to force them to quit. Yet, fear of being sober this is far from the way that drug rehab centers actually operate nowadays. Your addiction rehab team will always endeavor to treat you with respect and without judgment.
What Are the Most Common Challenges People Face Early in Addiction Recovery?
- To replace unhealthy coping mechanisms with healthy–and more effective–ones.
- For certain substances and levels of addiction, this is a medical necessity.
- Over time, our ability to cope and come up with solutions that work for us becomes easier and easier.
- Take the time to work with us over the next few weeks.
To not get all worked up about words like “alcoholic” and find some humility, shut up, and listen to people who were healthier and wiser. Whether it’s Step Work, therapy, or another recovery program, if you don’t take extra steps to work on the core stuff, your sobriety remains at risk. We wake up the next day feeling emotionally and physically wrecked, determined to make today be different. But it won’t be unless we actually change something. If you do the same song and dance with yourself every day or week over your drinking, you’ll never stop. I lived in it for probably six years – the amount of time I actively tried to quit drinking.
What if People Judge Me?
The fear of being sober is often about dealing with your loss of a coping mechanism for “real” life. You’re afraid you don’t have the tools and resources to help you to maintain your sobriety. You are afraid that being sober will simply be too hard. You may have thoughts about losing all that is good in your life, losing all friends, being boring, and feeling lost without the use of the substance. This fear is common, but by looking at the sober community, you can see that those thoughts are not true.
- This can include physical withdrawal symptoms (e.g. aches and pains) and psychological withdrawals (e.g. strong cravings).
- Maybe you’re afraid you won’t be able to make new friends.
- Most fears that we faced were about our relationships and how they’d change, how we’d cope, fear of failure, and the fear of change itself.
- It’s understandable that you might feel fear of withdrawal.
” Lifestyle modifications can be uncomfortable and perhaps even generate anger and resentment. While sobriety is well worth the effort required to achieve it, choosing sobriety is a significant endeavor that requires courage, difficult conversations, and significant life changes. So for some people, sobriety can be a bit scary. However, a good therapist won’t push a client to talk about anything before they’re ready. Eventually, most people discover that keeping things bottled up is more trouble than it’s worth.
What are the Stats On Rehab and Recovery?
Give yourself time to discover the new sober you. Within the safety and supports of a trusted rehab program and sober peer community, many people come to like and love the person they are when drugs and alcohol aren’t in the picture. In this sense, recovery is a bit like falling in love with yourself and then learning how to love yourself—another feel-good aspect of being sober. For some, being sober means dealing with painful memories, powerful emotions, and incredibly stressful thought patterns. While some people fear the physical pain of getting sober, others are more concerned about having to face emotions they’ve long avoided.
- And worrying about what others may think if you return to use is outside of your control.
- Many addicts worry that withdrawals will be too painful to cope with.
- Yet, recognizing that a fear of rejection is something to overcome and not run from can be empowering.
- The truth is, you have no idea what success will look or feel like.
- In fact, this fear personally led to a dozen failures in my own sobriety journey.
Finding Happiness in Sobriety
These unanticipated obstacles to wellbeing have the capacity to derail an otherwise smooth sailing recovery. I am very happy and grateful to be two years sober, but I wish I’d known then, what I know now. Now that you can recognize this fear, the question is, how do you get through it? When you are feeling those emotional and ups and downs, how do you pull together the pieces and stick to the path towards recovery?