Not only because my portion of the check is significantly smaller than anyone else at the table, but also because I refuse to invest in Big Alcohol. It’s part of the sobriety package, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sobriety can be an incredible way to shed relationships you’ve outgrown as well as find new ones that align with your new values. This isn’t to say that all of your friends will be threatened, or that all of your friendships will change.
Sobriety Fear #4: You’ll actually succeed.
- One reason for this is the understandable and very common fear of what being sober feels like.
- This can relate to picking up the pieces after detox, but it also has to do with what you know and feel comfortable with in your daily life.
- It’s not just your drinking buddies and drug dealers who can get you into trouble—sometimes those who are closest to you can contribute to a relapse.
- Overcoming fears in any situation is difficult, but when it involves a life change, it can be especially challenging.
- Going from abusing drugs to living sober often involves major changes in your lifestyle.
- If you’re worried about what other people will think if you become sober, then it’s likely that you’re scared of becoming sober.
If any area of your life is out of control, it will not help you maintain lasting sobriety. Once you do return to work, it’s important to create a budget fear of being sober and take steps to safeguard yourself as work stress can be a relapse trigger. Having a chaotic or disorganized lifestyle can also hinder your recovery.
Strategies for Building Resilience In Early Recovery
There are common setbacks to getting and staying sober like withdrawal, craving, and pressure to use. Relapse rates for substance use addictions are around 40% to 60%. Setbacks don’t erase progress, though, and they don’t mean you’ve “failed” to stay sober. Remaining sober over time is about much more than willpower.
You Believe Sobriety Is Boring.
- The fear of being sober usually has a mixture of root causes, including the discomfort of facing underlying emotional or psychological issues without the numbing effect of substances.
- Second, it’s essential to reach out to a support system.
- If you’re like me, this can feel entirely terrifying.
- When he went to a National Association of Black Journalists event in Chicago, he made unplanned remarks that suggested Harris was not really Black.
- Sobriety is a general term for staying away from mood- and mind-altering substances, though there is no commonly agreed-upon medical definition in terms of what sobriety means.
Instead, work with our skilled team to learn how to overcome this pain for good. Many individuals facing drug and alcohol addiction have developed a lifestyle around their addiction. Everything they do – day in and day out – focuses on that next hit, drink, or high. When you take that away, even when you know it is for the best, you are opening the door to all types of risks.
- If you’re addicted to drugs or alcohol, you’ve likely used them to cope with difficult situations in your life.
- They may have wronged some of these people, or they might be embarrassed about how they once acted.
- However, addiction treatment involves support in this respect.
- You will need to learn how to get and hold down a job to support yourself, how to feed yourself, how to keep up with personal hygiene, and keep your house or apartment clean and tidy.
- You will have good days, hopeless days, and every other sort of in-between day on this journey.
- Their own addictions may prevent them from being excited about your change of lifestyle.
Your brain knows this, and, as a result, it becomes afraid. You may again seek out the people and situations that support your alcohol use. Some people who move from a controlled and protective setting find themselves awash in the environmental cues that lead to their drinking. Getting sober may seem difficult, but there are strategies you can use to get and maintain sobriety. Some are structured in programs, such as the 12-step approach used by Alcoholics Anonymous and similar addiction recovery programs. I remember when I first got sober, I was concerned about giving up drugs and alcohol forever.
Fear is always about loss; it is present only when there is desire. Fear arises when there is a conflict between what you want, need or love and what might happen if that want, need, or love is not fulfilled. Addressing fears in recovery is important because, despite being mere flights of imagination, fears have the power to derail many of your recovery efforts. One thing that all addicts have in common when starting recovery is that they are often afraid of the process.
Finding Happiness in Sobriety
A therapist who specializes in addiction and recovery can offer invaluable support. This might include providing strategies to manage fears related to sobriety and sensitively addressing underlying issues. It is very normal in the early days to feel like you’ve resigned yourself to a life of misery by quitting alcohol.
Sober Recovery Expert Author
If you are afraid of being sober, the first step in overcoming that fear is stepping outside of your comfort zone and doing something that you don’t necessarily want to do. If you are ready to begin your sobriety journey, Evoke Wellness is available to help. We understand how scary it can be to commit to long-term sobriety, especially if you have never been sober before and you have no idea what to expect. The good news is that the majority of our staff members have been exactly where you are now, and they know exactly what you are going through.