We recognize that during the period of time we were mired in our addiction, there have been moments we have put ourselves in extremely unsafe positions. In the pursuit of our driving thirst, the tendency to behave in ways and engage in acts that under other circumstances may never have been enacted, are immediately done without regard or measure of the dangers that have lain in wait. Those very dangers are similar to a coiled cobra ready to strike at the foolhardy throat of the blind snake handler.
Now, at the start of Recovery, it is necessary to re-learn how to evaluate a variety of situations around us. There may be the need to use a proverbial new pair of glasses to see what’s really what. In donning the new 20/20 eyewear, we may save our respective skins from an unnecessary branding with that hot, fiery poker of potential pain. Our initial inclination might still be to react to environments or engage in certain behaviors as we used to, falling back on what’s been practiced at the depths of our addiction. We need to assess scenarios in our new way of living which, previously, we would have merely barreled into without regard for our own well being. There may have even been, at times, an inertia of agony so great that we have also included the propulsion of our nearest and dearest toward health-jeopardizing situations.
This opportunity to step back and determine what now might be dangerous for us can be learned at a drug and alcohol rehab. Many of us who are new to embark on this well-worn path of sobriety have still thrown themselves down the well of danger and misery, even after collecting days without imbibing our previous substance of no-choice. Thankfully the staff is well informed as to what the current instinct might be versus what the safer course of action is and they gently guide us toward a new path, one that encourages self-care as opposed to our inclination to dash headlong into disaster.