Pitfalls Abound During Recovery

Pitfalls abound during recovery
Steve Wildsmith

(Steve Wildsmith is a recovering addict and the Weekend editor for The Daily Times.)

Perhaps the biggest pitfall for addicts fresh into recovery is the idea that, because were no longer using drugs, that life will magically improve, that well never be faced with the challenge of getting high again and that all of our wildest dreams will come true.

Unfortunately, thats never the case.

Most of the time, we bring such baggage into the rooms with us, and 90 percent of it can be traced directly to our drug problem. Legal woes, marital difficulties, health concerns, the lack of self-esteem because of the things we did to get our drugs all of those things are, by and large, a product of using the drugs themselves.

In recovery, were first taught that, no matter what, we never have to get high again. Thats probably the first and most powerful lesson: that no matter what, putting drugs into our bodies is a choice. Once our systems are free of the chemicals that enslave us, whether we get high again is entirely up to us.
Many addicts, once they get past withdrawal and its soul-crushing symptoms, can manage to stay clean for indeterminate periods of time. We can put down the drugs and see our lives begin to improve.

But unless were willing to work on the reasons we get high in the first place, such change is often temporary.

The bigger picture, in my experience, is that drugs are just a symptom of much bigger problems within the heart and the mind. Our insecurities and fears and self-loathing give rise to an inability to cope with the world around us, and so we self-medicate. We anesthetize and de-sensitize ourselves through the euphoric false reality that drugs provide. We construct a bubble for ourselves that gives us the illusion of control and stability, and we rationalize that as long as we have our drugs, our bubble is impenetrable.

The problem is that no matter how much dope we do, that bubble eventually starts to rot and collapse. And then were faced with a moment of truth do we continue down that path of self-destruction, or do we seek out another way to live?

In recovery, we find that alternate lifestyle one of freedom and hope that we can live without using drugs. But to do so, we need to search within ourselves and make a full and exhaustive inventory of who and what we are our faults, our fears, our defects of character, our resentments, our strengths and weaknesses and emotional and physical traumas of the past.

For many addicts, taking such a hard, unflinching look inward is too daunting. Accepting that we cant get high anymore is tough enough, but to do such a spiritual and emotional housecleaning almost seems to be asking too much.

But if we want to stay clean if we truly want to find a new way of life then we must find the willingness to do so. Otherwise, we will get high again.

Theres a saying in the rooms that clean time doesnt equal recovery , and theres some truth to that clich. For me, just getting clean wasnt enough. I had to change who I was, how I perceived things, how I treated people and how I treated myself and I had to realize that such change is ongoing and ever present. I had to accept that life doesnt get better with any sort of permanence without commitment to long-term recovery and the slow process of change that goes along with it.

Any addict can get clean, provided they have enough willingness. And any addict can find recovery and some peace in the day-to-day routine of life life on lifes terms if they have enough desire.

Addiction is progressive, fatal and incurable. It can be arrested, however, and at that point, recovery is then possible.
Thank you cynical,

I need this...





The bigger picture, in my experience, is that drugs are just a symptom of much bigger problems within the heart and the mind. Our insecurities and fears and self-loathing give rise to an inability to cope with the world around us, and so we self-medicate.


To this day, I still have a hard time with this. I want to think that I just got high because it was fun. It was. It made me funny and energetic......the life of the party, the mom all the kids liked being with.........and their moms, too.
But I know, deep down, that there was a reason I couldn't be that fun person without drugs.

More on this later, gotta go now.
Thanks for sharing, CO...

I appreciate you taking the time to post these and it's usually spot on with something I need to hear...

xoxo
Stacey