Now this is a topic that not many people talk about… How to keep from relapsing!
I never really talk about this part of my getting sober and for very good reasons. I just did not want people to worry that I might just go that way again.
I have been reading about this for a while and actually this is not the post I have been mentioning on my Facebook page, “A New Start On Life” that I would be writing about.
This is just something that needed to be talked about.
5 Things you may tell yourself before relapse
- This time, it will be different
You can come up with a slew of things to convince yourself that the next time would be different. Knowing what to avoid and how to handle yourself but, if you had an issue with it the first time…chances are the second go around will be worse.
- Maybe I can just have one
That is a big mistake because, if you liked the taste of the first, chances are you’ll be loving the second! Then after the second, you know where you’ll be heading next… right back to a full blown relapse. Not to mention the guilt that will eat you from within. “What is that saying… One is too much and six is not enough”?
- I’m alright now
Here is the one that will bite you in the ass the worse. Sometimes people think that once they are back to full health or feeling better or got their life back on track and away from an addiction that somehow everything is set back to normal. Once you recover you need to stay that way. Chances are that if you go back, even just a bit…Things will get bad again. What comes around, goes around!
- I’m no fun when sober
Think about this… What were you like before you started drinking? I am sure you laughed, had fun, had good memories and good friends… Sure, we all did. For some odd reason when we have been away from the drinking scene for a while and maybe are around a few of our “ole drinking buddies” who had continued to drink after you had stopped, things may be just a bit off, like you can’t get back into the same fun they are having but, watch them closely and remember how bad you got when drinking. Not all your drunk times were all fun, games and good times.
- Those were the good ole days
Were they really? seriously… I don’t know about you but other than the crazy stuff you may have pulled and got away with it, I am sure there were a few times that was not the case. How about not having enough money to pay your bills because you had to have that alcohol or, how about the time you were late because you were to hung over to wake up? How about the times where you thought you were going to die from the amount of vomit that left your body in one evening or even that time you wound up in the ER from alcohol poisoning or even worse…Arrived at the hospital on a stretcher from being involved in an auto accident!
Not everyone has those “good ole days” and some are, well…dead!
How to keep from relapsing
Other than writing a huge paragraph or two about what was said above… How about this… Just don’t start drinking again! Think about why you stopped in the first place. What brought you to give up the addiction.
I am sure most often it was because either, it got super bad or got to the point of getting sober was your ONLY answer!
For whatever reason you stopped, keep that in your head at all times. Now, I am not saying let it consume your thoughts each and everyday but, you have to keep on you toes and not give into your thoughts of “maybe things can and would be different this time”.
Chance are, I don’t think so is the only answer.
You always need to be careful you don’t slip but, if you do (because many of us do or will), it is not the end of the world. You just have to get right back to that place that got you to being sober to begin with.
I am happy to say that I have not relapsed but that does not mean I am out of the woods, I am always recovering everyday!
That is how I keep from relapsing… Reminding myself of this fact… I am an alcoholic and am powerless against it’s grasp yet strong enough not to let it get a hold of me ever again!
One day at a time!
