The Alcoholic Addict and Life’s Hardships

When we embark on our road to sobriety we may fall prey to the delusion that everything is all going to be a-okay from here on in.  Perhaps we have forgotten that, previous to our imbibing, be it alcohol or drugs or both, life existed on its own terms.

Hardships will, more than likely, crop up as life goes on.  Perhaps there’s been something with which we’ve been dealing during our drinking and/or using and is now continuing into our sobriety.  When we are drunk and/or high, it may seem like those hardships are easier with which to contend.  When we are sober, and we come upon a challenging event; it may feel insurmountable.  The exact opposite has a tendency to be the truth.  When we are loaded and ignoring anything that happens in the “outside world”, those problems and issues don’t go away.   They not only remain in our lives but sometimes their difficultly is compounded by our ignoring them.  When we are sober, and are in need of dealing with problems, knowing full well that ignoring them will not make them disappear, we will now have the necessary tools to use.

The staff at this California alcohol rehab will assist us in the laying of our foundation in sobriety.  Teaching us the way to have a life built using those very skills which will then assist us in getting past those seemingly overwhelming moments.  They will take the time to explain that whether or not we understand why something is happening, that, if it is in motion it is happening and guide us toward a place of accepting what’s actually occurring, painful, difficult or otherwise and that there are other options to explore instead of getting high and/or drunk.  Life will continue and there is no guarantee that it will be smooth sailing in sobriety.  We, however, now get to negotiate our way through those moments with grace, dignity and without getting loaded.

Learning to Control our Emotional Natures

“… we couldn’t control our emotional natures…”  The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous pg. 52

What does controlling our emotional natures mean?  Have we run rampant over others, without any regard for them, due to our feelings?  How has this been magnified when we’ve been drinking and/or using?

Let’s consider how we’ve reacted to people when we’ve felt emotionally challenged while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.  When we’ve been angry, have we responded by shouting or screaming, name calling, or even physically lashing out?  Maybe we’ve taken the other route; being sullen & silent, behaving in a passive aggressive manner with the attempt at manipulating situations to try to wound the other person without every stating we were upset.

Now, while getting sober, it may be even more of a challenge to learn how to contend with our feelings while not defaulting to and relying on how we’ve reacted previously.  It is in the best interest of all for us to be willing to be reeducated, so to speak, in how we respond; recognizing and becoming mindful of how our reactions affect others.  The staff at this Los Angeles drug rehab has intricate knowledge of how to not only recognize when an overwhelming reaction is building up but to also quickly diffuse the emotional component of the situation.  In the moment, they offer a new view to what may be happening and a possible way of how to respond while still being in touch with our feelings, instead of allowing those feelings to be our only reaction.  This is, more often than not, a learned skill and simply because it might not be easy or even understandable, it can be acquired and honed over time.