Stop Drinking and Start Living a Real Life in Recovery

Many people get mixed up about recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, because they think it is all about elminating the chemicals. They think that the primary focus is on eliminating drug use and then on avoiding all of those triggers and urges that might pop up in our lives that might make us relapse.

If recovery were that easy then we would likely see many more people find success with it. Unfortunately we don’t, as getting good outcomes in sobriety takes a ton of motivation and work.

One of the hard truths about recovery is that it takes a monumental effort in the beginning. If you want to achieve a successful life of sobriety then you have to put forth a huge initial effort. Most people learn as they go through life that putting forth a modest effort will give them modest results, but this is not the case with addiction. If you don’t put in an absolutely 100 percent effort at early recovery then you are headed for trouble.

This can be somewhat tricky because as newcomers in early recovery we will usually seek guidance from oldtimers in the program who have been around for a while and try to copy their strategies. This won’t work out well for someone new in recovery and it will probably make them go back to using. If your sponsor has been clean and sober for several years and you attempt to do what he does to stay clean then you are going to relapse. Why? Because we progress and change as we stay clean and sober. The things that helped us get clean will not keep us clean 10 years from now….we have to keep changing as we go along. If we want to understand how to stop drinking then we need to realize that we will change as we progress in recovery.

Not only this, but the level of dedication and hard work you must put forth as a new person in recovery is extremely large. Don’t think that you can somehow find a shortcut to the serenity and calm demeanor of that ten-year-sober sponsor of yours. That peace and serenity was not easy to come by, it was earned. It is not a magic gift that you can claim without putting in the footwork.