Dealing With The Fear Of Withdrawals

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard some version of this statement: “I don’t know if I can go through the withdrawals” when someone is talking about why they can’t get clean and sober.

I get it. Withdrawing from any substance is horrible.

But instead of being hyper-focused on the withdrawal process, step back and ponder this: The pain of withdrawals is nothing compared to the misery of living in active addiction.

If you are considering getting sober at this moment, how much pain are you in today? How long have you been suffering? If you are not getting clean and sober out of the fear of the short-term pain of withdrawals, you aren’t avoiding pain. You are simply choosing long-term misery over short term pain.

I want you to step back and look at the big picture by looking at the graphic below: 

That is my entire addiction and recovery journey to this point.  The big yellow bar is the misery I lived while in active addiction.  The always growing green bar is my life in recovery.  That tiny little red line in the middle was my detox.

Fear of that little red line was one of the reasons I kept putting off my recovery.

Don’t miss out on the green bar ahead of you because of that tiny red line.