Seeking treatment for addiction is an amazing step towards bettering yourself and your loved ones. However, this can be a very scary and daunting step for many. Of course, when you try to better yourself, you also face the realities of who you used to be and fear of relapse as a new possibility. Experiencing fear in addiction treatment is much more common than you’d think.
You might be afraid of a lot of new things now. If you’ve never tried recovery, you might be afraid of this new and unfamiliar experience. If you have been to recovery before, you may be afraid of failure and relapse. Moreso, you may be afraid of discovering the new person you will become without relying on drugs and alcohol, or the friends and places you can no longer associate yourself with.
Many people ask themselves:
- Will I like who I become? What will my life look like without drugs and alcohol?
- How can I cope with facing my past self?
- What if others judge me for how messed up I am? Am I beyond the point of repair?
- What if I am not forgiven by the people I’ve hurt? What if I do all this work and I still lose everything?
Replacing Fears In Addiction Treatment With Truths
Obsessing over these new fears of addiction treatment will often only prevent you from reaching your goals. Choose instead to focus on these truths:
- You can become anyone you want to. Your ideas about who you want to be and what you want to do may change over time, and that’s fine. We become so many different people throughout our lives. Staying patient and understanding with yourself through this process is vital.
- When you think about the life you want for yourself, you’ll find the determination to make the changes you need to and better your life. There are many things addiction holds you back from, and when you start wanting those things it can help you stay strong.
- Although building new, healthier friendships seems daunting, having relationships where someone doesn’t just accept you but wants you to be the best you can be is very beneficial. Having these new relationships in your life will provide you with a support system for reaching your goals in addiction treatment.
- Relapse is a natural part of the disease of addiction and can be a motivator rather than a deterrent. Sometimes fearing a relapse after a period of sobriety may keep people from even trying to stop. What’s more important is that you will never give up and keep moving forward.
- Friends, family, and loved ones are wonderful motivators. However, remember you are doing this for yourself. Those that you’ve hurt will need to go through their own process of forgiveness. Eventually, a lot of people you’ve hurt may come around. Especially when they see that you are bettering yourself.
There Are Other Things You Can Do To Overcome Your Fears In Addiction Treatment.
- Develop a positive mindset. Developing a positive mindset can help you cope with fear when you encounter it and reroute your thinking. Eventually, you can train yourself to naturally expect the best from unknown situations.
- Prioritize positive emotions and thoughts. When you focus on what is going well in your life, you are more capable of seeing clearly seeing other things that have gone well, and finding a more realistic middle ground.
- Cope and face everyday fear. Avoiding dealing with difficult situations and fears can create more stress and panic in the long run.
- Reach out for help if you need it, and tell the right people, “I am not used to dealing or coping with things so quickly or so directly,” or, “I have never done this before.” People are more willing to help someone who is honest about their struggle.
- Remind yourself that your addiction treatment team is there to support you. The team at Harm reduction Center is there to support and help guide you (as they have countless others before) on the path to recovery.
Harm reduction Center can help you Overcome your Fear In Addiction Treatment
Deciding to seek addiction treatment for yourself is likely to bring up many new fears as you learn the process. Although you’ve been told before, remember that these new fears are normal and only mean that you are genuinely trying to change your lifestyle and become better. If you didn’t have real fears, you wouldn’t be seriously considering the consequences of your decision to find long-term sobriety.
The staff here at the Harm Reduction Center can help you through your journey to sobriety as they have with hundreds of people before. Contact us today for more information.
