It’s a dysfunctional version of “playing it safe.” You deserve better than that. On the one hand, you hate what your life has become due to drinking. On the other, you’re scared to death of what sobriety will do to your world.
Fear of Relapse
These people know that the days are hard right now, but they endure because they also know that, eventually, they will come out on top. They don’t know when or how, but they trust that it will happen. In the meantime, they do what they must to survive the day. Right now, you’re freaking out about some hypothetical future social life because sobriety is a big change, and that little liquor demon in your brain is trying to talk you out of it.
What Is Early Sobriety Like?: National Recovery Month 2024
Overcoming these fears is a crucial aspect of the recovery process, as it paves the way for growth, healing, and lasting change. 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. This can help you feel more grounded and less overwhelmed by fears and cravings. Our long-term treatment approach ensures that you are equipped with the tools and support necessary to maintain sobriety and thrive.
- Facing the fear of sobriety can be daunting, but you’re not alone.
- You may also doubt your ability to resist the urge to use again.
- Sobriety means having to face uncomfortable truths about ourselves and others and having to stand up and be who we are.
Let us help you get back to your brighter future.
The reason many people with substance abuse problems have a fear of rehab is they must admit they have a substance abuse problem. They must also realize, in many cases, their family, friends, employer, coworkers, and others could find out they have an addiction problem. Overcoming fear can be rather challenging for people with substance abuse problems.
They are frightened by the idea of facing life without alcohol and drugs. It can all seem like a great deal of work with no real reward. The fear of relapse is a common experience for many individuals in recovery. It arises from the worry of slipping back into addictive patterns or behaviors that were detrimental to their well-being.
When the Fear of Being Sober Means Facing Emotion
After months or years of being fixated on drugs and alcohol, who are you if you arent an addict? These are some of the most difficult questions in recovery, and the answers may change over time. However, fears can also impede or fear of being sober sabotage your recovery. This is why it is important to understand them and learn to deal with them. Therapy is a critical component in rehab for this very reason. It is there to help you deal with the challenges you will face.
- Eudaimonia Recovery Homes offers a structured sober living environment that helps you manage your recovery step by step.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a valuable tool for managing fear in recovery.
- Many people drink and do drugs precisely because they don’t like who they are and want to dull the sensation of their shame, self-loathing—even self-hatred.
- To outsiders it might sound like a fear of success, but the fear of sobriety is more about your feelings without substance abuse.
- Substance use often begins as a way to escape difficult emotions.
Sobriety Fear #7: You’ll lose your friends.
The fear of being sober is a very common fear in recovery. To outsiders it might sound like a fear of success, but the fear of sobriety is more about your feelings without substance abuse. After all, it’s been a long time since you were sober, and maybe your last experiences of sobriety were traumatic.
- It sounds like a weird thing to be afraid of, but it’s very real.
- It’s important to view these events not as failures but as opportunities for learning and growth.
- Nifaliophobia, or the fear of being sober, manifests as a significant and persistent fear related to the absence of alcohol or drugs from your life.
- It means facing up to the havoc you’ve wreaked in the lives of family and friends, picking up the pieces of the precious relationships you’ve destroyed in your pursuit of substance use.
- And since fear is always about something that might or could happen but hasn’t happened yet, it is a reaction to an imagined, rather than a real, event.
That said, while “recovery” and “sobriety” are different terms, they’re also used interchangeably in some instances. Plus, being in recovery typically involves maintaining sobriety, so the two are somewhat intertwined. 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. Negative thoughts like these can come from many places.
