Here are some tips that experts recommend often. Any general advice posted on our blog, website, or app is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace or substitute for any medical or other advice. If you have specific concerns or a situation arises in which you require medical advice, you should consult with an appropriately trained and qualified medical services provider. One thing I’ve learned in my seven and a half years in recovery is that we all have fear, and we all overcome those fears, instead choosing recovery. What I know from this side of the fence is that life in recovery gives us everything that we had looking for at the bottom of a bottle. However, your true friends will still love you for who you are, whether you drink or not.
Practice Healthy Living
The only way you will fail is by not starting in the first place. If you go for a few days, weeks or months without drinking and then have one (or many) you haven’t fear of being sober failed. Before I stopped drinking for good, I had many attempts – six months here, four days there, a week, a day, two full years during pregnancies.
- I did not want to admit to a drinking problem and that kept me drinking.
- Not only because not drinking is hard, but also because we live in a society where most everyone around us drinks.
- Other definitions, however, focus on the process of recovery and coping habits that support health and wellness over the long term.
- I’m going to offer you a little tough love on this one.
- You make it up to everyone you ever hurt by never being that person again.
Suicide and Sobriety – A Podcast
You’ll face a variety of long-term struggles. You can expect to sometimes feel afraid, worried, unable to move forward, and downright unwilling to face what’s coming. Eight years later, those early days are kind of a blur.
Seven Common Fears in Recovery (and Why Sobriety Is Still Worth It)
We sat in the middle of woods smoking out of a disgusting bong that one of the kids had made out of a water bottle. Even though I was probably only 13 years old, I felt like I was fully ready for this experience. It seemed like getting high was the single most amazing thing that had ever happened to me. For the first time in my life, I felt my peers truly accepted me, my mind was clear from all fears and I finally felt at ease. I remember promising myself that this was my new way of life. Some of the immediate changes you will need to make will be obvious—like not hanging around the people that you used with or obtained drugs from.
Learning Center
- Non-addicts may proclaim, “Of course addicts should want to get sober—why wouldn’t they?
- At Eudaimonia Recovery Homes in Austin, Texas, we offer a full continuum of care that supports you at every stage of recovery.
- Strengthening your coping strategies and possibly adjusting your recovery plan can help prevent future setbacks.
- My first few months of recovery went fairly smoothly.
- With proper counseling and/or a good recovery program, you’ll learn important tools for navigating these relationships.
It wasn’t until well into my sobriety that I thought, “this is for me.” During my first year of sobriety it was just something I was doing, not drinking. I wasn’t sure where I was going with it, if I would stay sober forever, or even if I was an actual alcoholic. Sobriety is often tied to the extreme stereotype of addiction, the old homeless man that lives under the bridge, the heroin addict who shoots up in the bathroom.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” – Franklin D Roosevelt
Every time you (or I) do that, we choose to suffer. What is the point of sobriety if you let yourself wallow https://ecosoberhouse.com/ in self-doubt and pity? I don’t believe you really feel that way because otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.
- It shouldn’t be surprising then that fear is why many people don’t get sober or take a long time to do so.
- You might even think that addiction rehab is all about shaming addicts with their addiction and trying to force them to quit.
- Develop a daily or weekly routine that includes check-ins with your support network, attendance at support group meetings, and dedicated time for self-care practices.
- I wasn’t sure where I was going with it, if I would stay sober forever, or even if I was an actual alcoholic.
- Will you still be popular and able to make jokes?