One of the most challenging parts of entering recovery is that you are forced to face the same painful emotions and challenges you did before, but this time without the help of drugs and alcohol. In a previous column, I wrote that:
“The best part about getting sober is that you are finally able to feel your feelings, and the worst part about getting sober is that you are finally able to feel your feelings.”
Abstaining from drugs and alcohol didn’t immediately take away the problems in my life and within myself emotionally. Although they compounded my problems, drugs were never the actual issue. Mind-altering substances were how I attempted to treat myself.
I was never able to improve my life dramatically by merely removing drugs and alcohol. Eliminating drug use would mitigate the daily consequences of things like my wife’s anger and some financial stress, but ultimately I was still a broken man with the same problems. Abstinence without self-work just removed the only way I knew how to cope with my emotions.
[For more on this story by SETH BLAIS, go to https://www.pressherald.com/20...motional-stress-too/]
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