Finding an addiction treatment center with aftercare planning services can help you overcome your fears of long-term sobriety. When you’re facing the fear of sobriety, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of never drinking or using again. The key is to take your recovery one day at a time.
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There are many myths about sobriety that can cause people to feel scared. However, the more you know about sobriety, the less scary it will seem. If you’re scared of becoming sober, that’s okay. Feeling scared is normal when you’re making such a significant life change. However, it’s important to remember that sobriety is not something to be afraid of. Sobriety is an opportunity to improve your life in many different ways.
Six Things I’ve Learned From Two Years of Sobriety
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.
Engage with relevant support groups to find peer support
Plenty of sober activities can be just as fun as drinking or using drugs. However, it is important to remember that sobriety is not something to be afraid of. Sobriety can be an incredibly rewarding experience. Sobriety can help you to improve your health, your relationships, and your overall quality of life.
Overcoming the Fear of Sobriety – 5 Proven Tips Sober Living Austin
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. But seeking a professional opinion on where to get started can help alleviate and address your particular fears. With time and effort, you can overcome your fears and build a foundation for lasting recovery. The first step is to understand what is causing your fear. You may want to write down a list of fears in recovery.
- But in the majority of cases, the loss of inhibitions is not a good thing.
- 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.
- While you’re in active addiction, the life you imagine without drugs seems awful.
- You are afraid that being sober will simply be too hard.
- Getting sober means replacing your primary coping mechanism – drugs and alcohol – with new, unfamiliar ones.
Leave it alone, give it time, and it will go away on its own. Besides, allowing the fear of failure to completely influence big decisions like this is a cop-out. It’s a dysfunctional version of “playing it safe.” You deserve better than that. Don’t let difficult decisions and conversations with loved ones be the excuse you use to keep drinking alcohol. Realizing that sobriety means you’ll have to find new ways to handle your “stuff” is frightening.
Following are the most common fears people have about getting sober, along with the reality of these fears once sobriety has been reached. Many people struggling with addiction want to get sober, but share common fears about what sobriety entails. Let us take this opportunity to refute these fears and show you why getting sober is better than you realised.
Sobriety Fear #9: You won’t be able to handle your feelings without alcohol.
Now that you can recognize this fear, the question is, how do you get through it? When you are feeling those emotional and ups and downs, how do you pull together the pieces and stick to the path towards recovery? For some, alcohol and drug use creates issues itself. You’ve kept using to help escape the consequences of those situations. You have to make a decision to move forward by overcoming fear of those losses. You may be able to fix some of what’s lost and damaged.
- If these concerns resonate with you, remember that sobriety doesn’t happen overnight—even if you try to rush it.
- Besides, judging someone for not drinking alcohol is stupid, and you don’t need to be cool with that person anyway.
- Another common fear in sobriety is that you’ll wind up alone because no one will want to hang out with you.
As soon as I got some sobriety time under my belt and actively worked a 12-step program, I’ve found that I have freedom. I’ve attended weddings, I’ve gone to bars, I’ve seen my favorite bands in concerts and I’ve even hung out with my old friends from my drug-using days. What I thought was the cost of rehab was really the price I paid to earn my freedom.
It’s disheartening to realize what you’ve lost. With all of this chaos surrounding you at that moment, you’re just starting to acknowledge what’s happening to you. The thought of pulling fear of being sober your life back together or improving it can seem impossible. In those early days, it’s always possible to find yourself experiencing emotions you don’t know how to deal with well.
