At the root of addiction lies powerlessness. If you cannot stop drinking alcohol or using drugs, you are powerless over the disease of addiction. The gift of choice is no longer yours, and you are enslaved to the disease. Powerless shows up as not being able to stop, even though you want to. It tells you that you won’t do it tomorrow, but when tomorrow comes, you do it anyway. It makes you do things you would never in a million years consider doing when you’re sober.
Powerlessness can take over our lives, if we let it. If you can recognize, acknowledge, and admit—whole-heartedly admit that you are powerless over drugs and alcohol, your life will improve. It is at this moment that we face the fact that we cannot outrun or escape the disease of addiction. No matter how hard we might try to be “normal,” we aren’t and never will be. If you know that once you pick up a drink or a drug, and you can’t stop afterwards, you are on the right path toward recovery.
Negative thoughts about getting well are bound to pop into your mind, but remember that it is your disease talking. Rather, it is screaming at the top of its lungs to convince you to not go to treatment, and to keep on committing slow suicide. Your addiction wants you dead, and if you keep listening to what it wants, it will succeed.
As soon as addicts and alcoholics step away from denial, and start living in acceptance, true recovery begins. If you are considering going to treatment because you either think or know that you have a problem, you are beginning to stand up to your disease. You aren’t responsible for having the disease of addiction, but you are responsible for your recovery. If you want to actually follow-through with the notion that you won’t drink or use tomorrow, give us a call. Detox will transition you safely and comfortably into sobriety, and treatment will give you the tools you need to change your life from this day forward.
The Lakehouse Recovery Center offers private, residential care. Our program brings together recovery and non recovery focused treatments to help clients heal and learn how to live life again, without drugs and alcohol. Call us today for information: 877.762.3707