Living a clean, sober life is a marathon of epic proportions, not a quick sprint to the finish line of sobriety. It’s every day, every week, every year of your life that you’re clean. It’s every step you take to get your life back, or to start fresh with a clean slate and good habits. When you’re fresh out of treatment for addiction to drugs or alcohol, this can feel like you’re pulling a truck up Mt. Everest. In treatment, you probably envisioned what your life will be like when you’re sober and ready to really live again. Sobriety, even as important as it is, can be extremely difficult in the first weeks, months or longer after you leave treatment. Emotional wounds inflicted on family and friends during your addiction may be impacting your relationship with them, you may be struggling to find a job, or even just a place to stay. Even though you’ve been through treatment successfully, triggers and cravings can feel like landmines in your day, throwing you off just when you think you’re getting used to your new normal. It can feel impossible to ever climb out of the struggles and how much work it feels like it takes to be sober.
This overwhelming feeling can be frustrating, and for many people it can bring on a strong desire to use again, but despite what it may feel like, it gets easier. Time heals wounds with family and friends in one way or another, and with persistence, you’ll be able to find a new job, even a home if you’re in the market. Triggers and cravings are simply a fact of life for many people, though like other things, they tend to fade with time. It’s important to remember that, even if you experience a craving years after you’ve achieved sobriety, you’ll have more experience sober than you did before, and that experience will make resisting those cravings that pop up easier.
Sober living may be easy after treatment, or it may be hard, depending on your situation. There’s a tendency to get overwhelmed or discouraged easily when something doesn’t go well, and it can feel like living a sober life is twice as hard as you imagined. Maybe it is, but it’s worth working through the hard parts. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten, so even though the uneasy times, keep going. Each day sober is a victory.
At The Springboard Center, we know that you and your family need a treatment provider you can trust. Incorporating the best of practices we have created a meaningful program to restore health and dignity with quality care and counseling. Call us today for information on how we are serving the Permian Basin: (432) 620-0255
