coping skills!!!! oh my gosh this was one of my greatest struggles in early recovery. "i don't do life well" i'd say. (instead of resolving the life problem, i'd rush to drink to numb those emotions and avoid the uncomfortable feelings that came with it.) i didn't know how to overcome the emotions. but it was fixable!!!
Quote:
Early recovery is a time for readjusting to life without drugs or alcohol. Achieving and maintaining sobriety requires changes in your lifestyle, relationships, coping skills and every other area of your life. All of this change makes people in early recovery particularly vulnerable to relapse.
Here are 10 of the most common struggles addicts and alcoholics face in early recovery:
1. Being Around Others Who Use
Being around friends, family or co-workers who use drugs or alcohol can be difficult in early recovery. Certain sights, sounds and smells can trigger drug cravings and make it difficult to remain abstinent.
To protect yourself from temptation, remove all drugs and alcohol from your home and ask others who live with you or visit frequently to do the same. While you may be able to spend time with old friends, it is also beneficial to make new friends at 12-Step meetings or get involved in new activities or hobbies where you can meet sober friends.
2. Anger, Sadness and Irritability
Small irritations can trigger intense feelings of anger and sadness in early recovery, which may trigger relapse. Depression, anxiety and other difficult emotions may have always been there, but may have gone unnoticed because you used drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. In many cases, feelings of sadness or anger are a normal part of life that you must learn to accept and manage rather than try to escape.
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http://www.ordrugtreatment.com/addicts-struggle.html
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Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle.
The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours..~Ayn Rand
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