One of the major things holding us back in our growth and recovery is our fear. While some of our fears are conscious and obvious to us, many more are under the surface and stored in our subconscious mind. One of the fears we’re not always aware of is our fear of the future. Recovery entails hard emotional work and tremendous sacrifice. We can experience a great deal of fear around all the changes we’ll have to undergo to get well. We fear what the future holds, including the challenging recovery work we’ll have to do.
Our fear of the future often plays off of the discomfort we feel around uncertainty. Many of us like to feel as though we have things planned out. Addiction can cause us tremendous anxiety, because sometimes we don’t know how we’ll manage from one day to the next. We can be filled with fear about what our future will look like. Will we be able to recover? Will we always be suffering in this way? What will I have to give up in order to recover? What sacrifices will I have to make? We fear the discomfort and unfamiliarity of the unknown.
When we are struggling with addiction, we also very often are grappling with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. When we are mentally out of alignment, we tend to think in very negative, pessimistic and cynical ways. We’re filled with trepidation at the thought of moving forward because we’ve grown so accustomed to expecting the worst possible outcome. We’ve trained our minds to be negative, and this can contribute to our fear of the future. We doubt our ability to recover. We lose our faith in ourselves. We don’t believe in our ability to overcome challenges.
Many of us know other addicts who weren’t able to get clean. We know people who have relapsed repeatedly. We know people who have overdosed. We know very well how dangerous and destructive addiction can be. Naturally we fear these outcomes for ourselves. Addiction is a very scary thing. We are forced to live with this fear of the future and what might happen to us.
A useful way of looking at our fear is to see how it can motivate and inspire us to make changes in our lives. How can we use our fear of the future to propel us forward rather than hold us back? We can look at our fear as fuel for the fire of our ambition. Our fear can be the motivating force behind the goals we set for ourselves in recovery.
At Riverside Recovery, we stay by your side for the whole journey – from detoxification to relapse prevention. Call (800) 871-5440 today.