Alcohol and drugs take the edge off. There's no doubt about that but when your need to block out the negatives in your life start to put you in the danger zone with your consumption you soon realize that quitting is just not that easy. The obsessions and compulsions that drive this lack of control travel on a continuum that can be seen as a journey from light use to addiction - no one starts off with a drinking/drug/technology problem it just develops; sometimes frighteningly fast and sometimes over a lifetime. The end result is the same and the feelings of powerlessness and shame often rise as a result. The habit of judging our weakness is enough to send us straight to the bottle - shame is a great driver of substance abuse. Know that your brain undergoes significant changes when you have dependence or addictions in areas that control both drive and executive thinking so the voice that will normally get you to put the breaks on is on a "break" while the part of your brain that drives things such as emotion, hunger and fear is supercharged. You can get things back to normal but it needs time without psychoactive drugs and behaviours to achieve this.
Finding your most powerful motivations will start your neuro-detox - could be your children or it could be your sport! Find someone to guide you through the process of gaining control through this time because it really is so very hard just to get a start. I know because I've see people do this journey every week for nearly 20 years. Doing it alone is even harder and doing it without a plan is almost impossible.
Always remember every attempt is not a failure - just use it as a learning opportunity so you can see what triggered you to use/drink today and find a solution for tomorrow.
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| As you take those first steps, let the shame go and feel the power return! |
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