Beginning the recovery process is a demanding and challenging undertaking. We have to be ready to do the rigorous emotional work. We also have to be willing to make certain sacrifices. When we make the ultimate choice that our health and peace of mind are most important to us, there are some things we will inevitably have to give up. This process might be difficult. We may experience sadness, discomfort and feelings of loss. Our reward for staying the course, though, is freedom from our constricting and debilitating addictions and a chance at genuine happiness.
Giving up our addictions means sacrificing the lifestyle we have become accustomed to. Chances are we’ve created a comfort zone for ourselves which enabled us to continue our addiction uninterrupted. We may have a group of friends, family members or partners who are addicts themselves. We may drink or use even more when we’re around them. We might feel as though we bring out the worst in each other’s addictions and that we encourage each other to perpetuate our toxic cycles. These relationships are one of the first things we will have to sacrifice for our recovery if we want to shed our self-destructiveness. With serious work on everyone’s part, the relationship may be able to be salvaged, but until the others are as ready and willing as you are to do the work to recover, you might benefit most from distancing yourself. Your peace of mind has to be your priority, and anyone who disturbs it has to be sacrificed.
We’ll undoubtedly experience changes in our lifestyle and environment when we’re ready to recover. We will have to sacrifice the familiarity and comfort of home in order to seek treatment. We may feel inconvenienced by our new routine. We may be frustrated that we have to sacrifice the ease of the lifestyle we were used to. These sacrifices are necessary to push us out of our comfort zone, where the real learning and growth take place.
The most obvious sacrifice we’ll have to make is the escapism we’ve come to rely on in the form of our addictive substances and behaviors. We’ll have to start handling our emotions, our thoughts and our life circumstances without numbing ourselves to them. We’ll have to give up our habits of denial, avoidance and self-medicating. We’ll have to sacrifice the false feelings of safety and security we’ve created from avoiding having to feel our pain.
We’re here to help you reclaim the life you love. Call Riverside Recovery at (800) 871-5440 today for more information on our comprehensive and effective addiction recovery treatment programs.