In addition, having a support network once treatment is over can ease the transition from rehab back to daily living. This support fosters the motivation and self-confidence needed for sustained sobriety. They can help motivate a person to remain sober to reach the next milestone. Even though you know the health complications drug use has brought to you, it’s not uncommon to fear life without it. In some situations, people are scared sober, meaning they suffer life-threatening consequences to overdosing or using.

Step 2: Reach Out

One common mistake for those who are new to alcohol and drug recovery is substituting a new compulsive behavior for their old one. People new to recovery can find themselves approaching their new diet, exercise program, job, and even participation in support groups with a compulsion that echoes addiction. If these emotions become excessive, they can hold you back from recovery.

tips to help you overcome the fear of being sober

This freedom allows me to do whatever I want. 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. Getting sober at the age of 19 was difficult.

Reality Check

What were your relationships with your sort-of-normie friends like during that time? Did you feel like you were pulling away from them? I https://ecosoberhouse.com/ left New York for a long time in my 20s, but the social scene of writers when I first got to New York, in 2003, was pretty misogynist.

Sobriety Fear #6: You’ll be bored.

Any big life change naturally brings a sense of fear or unease. So understanding and addressing these fears is paramount. According to Merriam-Webster, being sober simply means abstaining from alcohol and drugs. Though some people are sober for their entire lives, others may have sober episodes of a few years, months, or even days. We are talking about drugs with a lot more nuance than we used to, and there’s a recognition that to fall into addiction is not some moral failing on your part.

Relational fears

However, I never felt good enough for anyone, so I often put on an act. Once you’ve admitted that you have a problem with substance fear of being sober misuse, getting help is the next step. Getting support doesn’t have to mean going to rehab, although that is an option.

Research from the Department of Veterans Affairs demonstrates that people who participate in 12-Step programs tend to have better outcomes than those who don’t. For most, detox is not enough to maintain sobriety. It is generally the first step in a more comprehensive treatment plan. As explained and elaborated on by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, relapse prevention is the main goal of all addiction treatment. Treatment provides you with the tools to change your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors around substance use. If you’re not ready or willing to change those behaviors and thoughts, then treatment cannot do what it’s designed to do.

• When we asked our alumna to describe what being sober feels like, she gave a detailed and inviting description that captured these key points.
• It can be a hard scenario to put yourself into, and it can even be difficult to wrap your brain around, but this is how someone with an active addiction feels.
• Support can also look like joining in-person and online support groups.
• Even after being in recovery for a while, you may not be delighted with the changes you have made.4 In fact you may realize you don’t like being sober.
• And then I wanted to be able to write about it in a descriptive way and not in a newspaper way.
• This fear may manifest as an intense and persistent anxiety.

Common Fears in Addiction Recovery – and How to Face Them

• Worrying about it constantly will only strengthen your fears and lessen your resolve to do anything.
• So, it’s extra helpful to have a support network available to you when you need it.
• For this reason, treatment plans need to be flexible.
• If you’re not ready or willing to change those behaviors and thoughts, then treatment cannot do what it’s designed to do.
• What you’re really afraid of is the unknown and that you may be unable to handle it.

This time, I feel like there’s so much less media coverage of Trump because people are too exhausted hearing about the threat of him. Whereas I don’t think Hillary Clinton did that the first time around, and I don’t think Biden was doing that very well. In the spring of 2021, once the vaccine was available and people began returning to normal life, you started going back out to parties in Brooklyn. But you noticed all of these changes, and the music was different. People were dressing in a more expensive way. It felt like the scene had become just entertainment for a different group of people.

Step 6: Build Support for Recovery

And as a journalist, you’re taught to fall back on the rules of the profession in those moments. You’re an objective observer; you don’t get involved. I remember at the end of one night when the cops were in New York, the cops were just aggressing anybody and grabbing them off the street and arresting them. And I was walking down the street — I had my press pass on — and they tried to grab some kid, and he was like, “I’m with her.

Broken and Bleeding: Emotional Trauma and Substance Use Disorder

But I coped and I feel infinitely stronger for doing it on my own without drugs and alcohol to inhibit my progress. People you love will die, you will move, you may experience the end of a relationship, and you may even lose your job. Drinking or using drugs doesn’t make the pain of any of this go away — at best you may numb your feelings, but they’re still there when you sober up. Grief and loss are painful, but using doesn’t help it just prolongs the agony. Support isn’t just needed to get a person started on the path to recovery from addiction. As stated above, support can help the individual stick to treatment through the duration of the program.