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Recovery is a brave choice. Yet many people encounter a powerful emotion that can sabotage their sobriety — fear. There’s nothing easy about changing the status quo, asking for help and getting clean. Overcoming opioid addiction begins with confronting your recovery fears. Dealing with fear will allow you to move forward and fully embrace your future. With that in mind, here are three common fears about opioid addiction recovery and how to overcome them.
Looking at the task ahead of you can feel overwhelming, and it’s normal for doubts to creep into your mind. How will you manage stress, pain and cravings without using? Thoughts like these make failure seem like a certainty. You may even begin to believe that staying sober just isn’t for you, so why even try.
Fear of failure is completely reasonable. Recovery can be messy, and it sometimes takes multiple attempts to gain lasting sobriety. To overcome this fear, you must accept that you will make mistakes, but you will learn and gain insight from every setback. The key is never to give up. Take your recovery one day, one hour, one minute at a time. Each small accomplishment will add up and make the overall journey less intimidating.
Recovery means saying goodbye to your primary way of coping — using opioids. Many people use addiction to conceal unpleasant thoughts and feelings. As you become sober, you may have to confront beliefs about yourself and painful emotions. Shame, loneliness, sadness or even the belief that you’re a failure, unworthy or unloveable could come bubbling to the surface.
Staying stuck in addiction because you’re afraid to deal with feelings is not sustainable. Rather than avoiding these emotions, true healing comes when you confront and address even the most unpleasant feelings. While this can be scary, the outcome is a promise of a more fulfilling, healthy life.
Thankfully, most addiction treatments include a therapeutic component. Counseling and support groups are great opportunities to share your feelings with those who understand and can offer you encouragement.
After all your hard work in recovery, the goal is to break free from opioids. That means living a life free from a substance you’ve grown to rely on or even love. Opioids provide a flood of dopamine, and you may be afraid that without these drugs, your life will feel miserable or you’ll never feel pleasure or joy. While most people don’t purposefully sabotage their recovery, the fear of a life without opioids can prevent you from putting forth your best effort.
You cannot control the future. Worrying about what might be will harm all the effort you’re putting into your recovery today. Mindfulness can help you stay in the present, teaching you to feel your fear without being swept away by it.
Also, the longer you stay sober, the more normal a sober life will feel. By fully investing in your recovery process, you’ll be able to rediscover joy in the small things in life.
Recovery is not without its struggles, but help is available if you’re ready to confront your fears. At Health Care Resource Centers, you’ll find the support and encouragement you need to pursue health and healing after opioid addiction. Find out more when you contact HCRC online or give us a call at 866-758-7769.
