Many people on the path of getting sober and who have even been sober for a while might easily get stuck in a pattern, a comfort zone that keeps life revolving in the same old circles.
For instance, maybe you’ve been sober for a year. Your life has reached a healthy, stable, and sober level. And this is good! You wake up, eat your breakfast, go to an AA meeting or support group, go to work, come home, have dinner, go to another sober living meeting, come home, and go to bed. The next day you start the whole routine all over again. It’s wonderful that you’re sober and it’s a comfortable life, and it’s certainly miles ahead of where you were when you were using.
However, you might at some point want more. Besides, you didn’t get sober just to get sober; you got sober so that you could find a loving relationship again, so that you can achieve some of your dreams, and so that you could have money in the bank whereas for most of your life as an addict you didn’t.
Struggles With Addiction
On the whole, those who struggle with addiction, whether they’re sober now or not, are typically passionate, fervent, and fiery people. They have a fire inside that needs to be expressed and shared. They have passion and an enthusiasm for life.
Previously, while still using, some addicts might have experienced that passion through promiscuity, risky behavior, or wild nights out on the town.
That high level of passion and energy might have come out through a quick sense of humor or a tendency to flirt. But where did all that fire go?
Likely it got channeled into getting and staying sober. And although there might always be a need to continue to do that, the passion for life is still there and continues to want its expression. Finding new and healthy ways to express it can be another gift that sobriety brings.
Alcohol Addiction
For example, Michael who lives in Westlake Village was once caught in the powerlessness of an alcohol addiction. He was living wildly most nights and being promiscuous. He was often the life of the party, with many friends who loved his witty style.
Eventually, he found himself at a low point and knew he needed to get drug treatment. He also felt his growing maturity, which told him that he needed to stop acting as though he were in high school. Two years after he made that decision, however, he found himself in the cycle described above – stuck in a healthy routine that was keeping him sober but Michael had lost his passion for life. He was going to two to three meetings a day, which he attended around his work, sleep, and eat schedule. At one point, he was trying to figure out what happened to him.
He was wondering where did all his passion for life go? To him, although he was sober, life was boring and dull. For awhile he was beginning to think that staying sober meant having a boring and standard life.
Then, he realized that he could use that life energy wisely. He could apply it towards helping others, towards encouraging addicts to get and stay sober, towards making his life meaningful and purposeful.
He began to write articles for the local papers, for websites that promoted sobriety, and for another site, which he created that became a roadmap for others in recovery.
Life After Drug Treatment
Life after drug treatment doesn’t have to be boring. For anyone who is passionate, sure that passion and fire at first needs to go towards recovery and preventing relapse.
But at some point, perhaps one or two or three years into sobriety, the fervor for life can be channeled into achieving what you want and creating a purposeful and meaningful life.
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