Drinking stunts your emotional and personal growth. It’s what you use to check out of everything else. The more you scratch it, the worse it’s going to get.

You will eventually reach a point when sobriety is easy, when you can’t remember the last time you had a serious hankering for a drink. It is very normal in the early days to feel like you’ve resigned yourself to a life of misery by quitting alcohol. Those early days of sobriety may leave you feeling hopeless. Right now, you’re freaking out about some hypothetical future social life because sobriety is a big change, and that little liquor demon in your brain is trying to talk you out of it. Don’t let difficult decisions and conversations with loved ones be the excuse you use to keep drinking alcohol.

The Idea of Standing Out

Mostly, we are in a great amount of pain and change is our only option. For me, I was terrified because I knew no other way to be. Alcohol was part of my identity and anything different seemed impossible. I didn’t want to admit that I might not have this drinking thing under control like I thought I did for so long. My life was a juggling act and alcohol was the boss. But it was hard for me to see that while I was in the thick of my addiction. Looking back, I know that all of my actions during that time were based on fear.

In this episode, we’re answering listeners questions about fear of relapse, of what others think of them, and fear of leaving a relationship in order to stay sober. By the time I was ready to leave rehab, I had gotten well into my 4th step, but I was still scared, so instead of going home, I decided to go somewhere a lot safer—a sober living facility. To combat the feeling of loneliness, most rehabs recommend enrolling in a 12-step program that will allow the individual to jumpstart recovery.

Fear of living with a mental health condition

With the help of a medical professional, you can safely detox from drugs and alcohol without worrying about withdrawal symptoms. One of the steps to take when it comes to addressing your fears is simply to state the fear aloud. That is, say what it is you are afraid of right now.

Going to the grocery store, a task that seemed so simple beforehand, can feel like an insurmountable feat. It feels like everyone is looking at you and, somehow, they instinctively know your little secret. Everybody seems to know you’re a recovering addict who’s struggling to get through the day without relapsing…and they’re all looking at you. The NA Steps program is specifically designed to replace this belief system with a mindset that doesn’t need drugs to cope with daily life. If people find that fear is interfering with their ability to find happiness in recovery, then it may be necessary to seek outside help by spending time with a therapist. This professional will be able to help the individual get to the root of their fears. Worried that they may be abandoned by the people they love or judged by others, some people refuse to admit that they have a drug problem or reach out to others for support.

They Don’t Know Who They are Without Alcohol

You only get back from the program what you give to your recovery. Additional calls will also be forwarded and returned by one of our treatment partners below. Ultimately, the NA Steps approach enables you to replace the fear of being sober with a need to be your best self. This need creates a new type of confidence that grows and sustains you in recovery.

S. National Library of Medicine, those most susceptible to addiction have never developed a healthy set of coping skills for managing life’s ups and downs. Rather than talk about difficult emotional issues, there’s an impulse to bury or ignore them. Another fear that is possible is worrying that you’ll stand out. If you commit to a life without drinking or drugs, some in recovery worry about being the one person in the group who doesn’t drink.

AlcoholicsAnonymous.com is not owned or operated by any treatment facility. AlcoholicsAnonymous.com does not endorse any treatment facility or guarantee the quality of care provided, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ or the results to be achieved, by any treatment facility. The information provided by AlcoholicsAnonymous.com is not a substitute for professional treatment advice.

• For months, we’ve focused on overcoming an addiction and, outside of that single goal, nothing else has mattered.
• AlcoholicsAnonymous.com is a referrer service that provides information about addiction treatment practitioners and facilities.
• Then I wouldn’t have to think about how horrible the life I was living was.
• If the individual has phobic symptoms surrounding the fear, this should be done with the help of a professional.
• Finding an addiction treatment center with aftercare planning services can help you overcome your fears of long-term sobriety.
• We realize that we don’t want to withdraw from the rest of the world because so many people in it are able to drink and use casually, and why should we?