What makes “human” a “human”? A lot. And one of them is our emotions. It’s what makes us distinct from other races. It makes us feel alive and ourselves. Positive emotions make us happy, positive, excited, open, and a lot, while negative emotions remind us of our existence in this world. As Mulan said, “One alone is not enough. We need both together.”
Because there needs to be a balance, however, there’s a catch: too much of the other can make us stuck in one side that will never help us improve and move on for the betterment of ourselves. And this is most critical, especially when you just got out of rehab. Your emotions play a vital role when it comes to your recovery and little did you know that sober services can help you to your path to sobriety.
In this article, we’ll provide a list of emotions that will slow your recovery and provide you with some insights to avoid them. It will help you in keeping yourself busy and not be bothered with your path of recovery.
The Emotions You Need To Avoid
In the case of addiction treatment and recovery, these negative emotions come up a lot for people who have struggled with their own substance use disorder.
Anger
You may have heard that anger is a bad thing, but this couldn’t be farther away from the truth. Anger has many positive aspects when it comes to being angry for legitimate reasons, and dealing with wrongdoers effectively and suppressing your emotions isn’t one of them!
Anger is a normal and healthy emotion. It can be tough to deal with anger when it’s directed at ourselves, but this doesn’t make the problem any more fixable than if you were angry at someone else. You are allowed to express your emotions to teach them how best to handle them if need be.
Suppressing your emotions is not healthy for the psyche. It can lead to stress, hopelessness, and despair from other things, which are all contributors to addiction or substance use disorders. The more you try to suppress them-the worse they become.
Guilt
When we are struggling with guilt, it can feel like the weight of our entire world is on one shoulder. It’s easy to get trapped in this cycle and never break free from these feelings- however, there may be something worth noting about them before giving up hope entirely.
Guilt has an odd ability. Sometimes when you’re feeling guilty for your actions or lack thereof that led someone into trouble, what happens next isn’t always clear cut.
You might find yourself thinking, “Why did I do that?” And then start asking questions as if they were important things needing clarification instead of just trying not to make mistakes anymore.
Shame
Shame is a normal feeling among addicts. It can make them do the opposite of what would hypothetically make them feel better and turn back to their addiction, but it is important not to underestimate just how much shame impacts people when they’re in recovery from addiction as well.
Loneliness
Loneliness is an epidemic in the West. While that may have something to do with addiction, I think it transcends far beyond just one factor for why people become addicted. Social isolation and feelings of loneliness are huge contributors too.
Avoid The Triggers
Now that you are well-aware of the emotions that may contribute to triggering you and shaking your path to recovery, discover how you can prevent them.
Identify & Develop
Finding freedom from addiction is not always easy, but knowing what could trigger a relapse can help.
Typically there are three types of triggers: environmental (places or situations), social (conversations), and emotional-mental concerns like stressors related to your past substance abuse history which may cause you to slip back into old habits again if unaddressed beforehand.
To stay on your road to recovery, you must have a solid support system. It could include friends or other people in the lifestyle who are committed to seeing you remain clean and sober for life; this doesn’t necessarily need to be just those within 12 steps of yours.
A good way of ensuring stability would entail creating an open environment by sharing stories with these positive influences while using them as moral guides during challenging times.
Self-Care
Good health begins with a balance of sleep, food, and exercise. To create this foundation for your body to recover from daily stressors, you need your own time in the spotlight as well.
This way, when we start focusing on cultivating healthy habits like meditation or yoga that will help us stay calm no matter what our day throws at us, then I promise after days full of hard work, everything seems worth every second.
Managing stress and other mental triggers is one way to avoid a relapse. Stress, anxiety, anger, or frustration are common emotions associated with addiction that can lead us back into drug use patterns we’ve tried so hard to get away from before.
By learning how to handle these feelings, you’ll be able to manage not only your addiction but underlying problems as well by self-administering the right kind of treatment when needed most without feeling alone during this process.
Surround Yourself With Positivity
The best way to get through a difficult situation is with the help of others. The more support we have, the easier it will be for us in our recovery process and wellness journey towards sobriety. It won’t hurt, right?
Wrong- there are some people out there who do not care about helping you recover from addiction, or even worse – they might make things harder on themselves, so they could pull strings at your life again as if nothing happened before when these triggers came to play?!
Take note: building up your network means cultivating new relationships wherever possible while also looking back over old ones that may no longer fulfill those needs.
You Are Stronger Than You Think
In the end, it will always come down to your decision and how you are committed to treating yourself. It’s not easy to face this head-on alone without any idea of how you can start.
And that is why sober services exist. For people who want help in staying on track with their life goals, they may need professional guidance from sober coaches or companions.
Before making that final choice about whether or not drinking alcohol should become an integral part of someone’s lifestyle, try giving both options prayerful consideration first because there is no going back once those decisions are made.