Sober livingThey’ll have to feel emotions again without numbing them with drink or drug and maneuver their way through tricky family and relationship dynamics. Addiction can be a way to avoid the things we don’t want to deal with. Recovery.com combines independent research with expert guidance on addiction and mental health treatment. Our mission is to help everyone find the best path to recovery through the most comprehensive, helpful network of treatment providers worldwide. A journey can begin with community mutual-help groups, inpatient treatment, residential rehab, outpatient programs, and more. Depending on the severity of addiction and readiness to change, different options may be beneficial for different people.
Define Your Fear to Overcome It
Dealing with setbacks or relapses is a common part of the recovery process. It’s important to view these events not as failures but as opportunities for learning and growth. If you experience a setback, take the time to analyze what led to the relapse and discuss it with your support network or therapist to understand the triggers involved. Strengthening your coping strategies and possibly fear of being sober adjusting your recovery plan can help prevent future setbacks.
Signs that Fear is Impacting Your Road to Recovery
- You can expect to sometimes feel afraid, worried, unable to move forward, and downright unwilling to face what’s coming.
- This is scary to a lot of people and deters many from seeking or completing treatment.
- Will you still be popular and able to make jokes?
- If you’re a treatment provider and have a question, please reach out and someone from our Customer Success team will be in touch with you shortly.
The truth is, you have no idea what success will look or feel like. Spending mental energy on things you cannot possibly know is useless. Every time you (or I) do that, we choose to suffer.
However, true healing becomes impossible if the fear prevents you from addressing underlying issues. Growth requires stepping outside of your comfort zone, but fear can make those steps feel too risky and painful. When questioning your ability to rebuild relationships and maintain sobriety, your confidence lowers and prevents you from taking leaps of faith. Additionally, facing emotions and trauma that are masked by substance use is daunting. Recovery requires confronting deep-seated pain and emotions that may have been avoided for years.
Mental Health Treatment
Professional support is a key component of a comprehensive recovery plan. A therapist or counselor specializing in addiction recovery can provide personalized guidance and help address underlying issues contributing to substance use. Similarly, there are many people who drink and use drugs because they feel more fun, daring, likable, and interesting when under the influence. Removing the thing that they believe gives them more charisma or self-confidence around other people can trigger the very real worry that they won’t like their sober self. It’s important to find a mental health professional you trust. Treatment is often a collaborative journey, and you should feel comfortable asking questions, communicating openly, and giving honest feedback on your progress.
It just means that you have to get up and try again. Working with a support group and a sponsor after you leave rehab is a great way to keep your sobriety intact. Additionally, pursue an addiction treatment center that prioritizes relapse prevention. You’ll know you will be taught the tools to prevent a relapse and to deal with one if you do relapse.
Learning healthy alcoholism treatment coping skills is key when it comes to dealing with the pain and struggles that life sometimes presents. Are you ready to take a leap of faith and live a life of recovery? Healing Pines Recovery is a men’s Colorado drug rehab. Our evidence-based programs help treat substance abuse, dual diagnosis, and unresolved trauma that leads to addiction. Our individualized treatment approach gives you the tools and support you need to find lasting sobriety.
Develop New Habits to Support Sobriety
Being at a party or trying to find the perfect romantic partner without alcohol is the stuff of nightmares for many people. Even people for whom alcohol is not a problem experience this. If you’ve typically required a little social lubricant to lighten up at parties (as many of us have), navigating social scenes without liquid courage can be scary.
- Alcohol was part of my identity and anything different seemed impossible.
- You will be making new friends in treatment and recovery, as well as through your support group meetings and new activities you will now start to enjoy.
- While the journey may have difficulties, sobriety offers improved well-being, clarity, and the opportunity for personal growth.
During active use, excitement and joy in your life probably came predominantly from your drug of choice. It’s time now to find what makes you feel alive again, because that’s where your passions exist. This might be reading, painting, exercising, playing with your kids, or learning new things. You may have to try out a few new things before you find your “aha! Rediscovering your personality in sobriety can be scary—but it can equally be a beautiful and exciting thing. Utilize your journal as you try out new things to reflect on how the experiences made you feel.
Imagine Success in Challenging Situations
Addiction still involves a high degree of stigma. You probably feel ashamed about your struggles with addiction. One of your fears in recovery may also relate to thoughts about being judged when you enter a residential treatment facility. This is especially true if you’ve been able to hide your addiction up until now. You might even think that addiction rehab is all about shaming addicts with their addiction and trying to force them to quit.
There are a lot of unknown answers and some people do not want to know themselves without this toxic substance. At The Ranch at Dove Tree, a key component of our process is to give you the tools you need to move forward. That includes talking about these fears, learning to understand what sobriety will mean to you, and facing what’s underneath it all. They cover up all of that “stuff” that happened that you don’t want to deal with. But, being sober commonly causes people to fear that pain coming back.