Do you care to go on the road of a sober recovery?

[Jabberwocky]

Hi all,

the past few weeks I have been pondering this question after having seen my psychologist as well as a new one for alcohol and gambling treatment. My thoughts so far have been that these people just keep on offering me advice whilst I don't actually take them. Tis makes me think that it is not up to the advice itself rather it is up to me. This having been said, i've recently been having a good time on the booze, speed, smoking cigarettes and gambling and hence I haven't been keen to listen to the advice and so none has been taken although a lot of it has been ringing through my ears.

I know next year will be a new year as I am now 26 and this fun just ain't the same. As a result I feel content that I will know now how to go bout to make the positive changes. Does anyone feel the same?

Also do you feel as if you know what you need to do but you just aren't doing it as a result of you not being ready?

Further what will you do to make your positive recovery?

 

[Lolie]

I think an awful lot of people reach a point where it just stops being fun and it becomes a whole lot easier to stop being self-destructive when there's no longer any pay off. For me it happened by degrees.

I never made a conscious decision to stop drinking - it happened as a consequence of other choices I made - but once I stopped abusing alcohol I found that I liked my life without all the drama which alcohol brought to it.

As with so many things in life, there's a huge difference between knowing what to do at an intellectual level and committing to different choices mentally and emotionally - some people will never be ready to do the latter.

 

[Legerity]

You're right it is up to you to make the decision, all the advice in the world won't do that for you. Sometimes you can have a moment of insight because of something somebody tells you, all of a sudden it becomes clear what you need to do, but it's still you that needs to take action.

To me finding the desire to commit myself to change something is really the hardest part. Once I know what I want, and know how to do it, the rest is pretty easy. It's when I'm uncertain that I'm ready and start having the back and forth arguments in my mind that things get difficult.

 

[queenscarlet88]

"Positive recovery" would best be yoked to a negative recovery -- a recovery strategy which emphasizes the catastrophic outcome which continued drug abuse is likely to engender.

Playing to my vanity is one of my negative recovery strategies. Thinking about the crags and furrows which will wrinkle my skin, the weight gain attendant to alcohol in particular, the washed-out pallor, the acne ... all of this constitutes one of my prime motivators to stay away from drugs.

Consideration of what drugs have done to my attention span, my moods, and my thinking overall is another.

 

[lazywhitefox]

I personally find that most people who are addicted will not change until they cannot stand to lose anything else. I finally stopped drinking at 28 after alcohol had taken everything i cared about away from me. Before that, I hadn't lost enough and I wasn't ready. All in due time, I guess. I was just a chosen one that got a chance to change my life before i wasted it completely. I can look back without (too much) regret and feel confident that I couldn't have done this at any other time in my life. And it's definintly not about perfection. I have had relapses and made bad decisions since I decided to try to live a better life, but I am able to forgive myself now and move on. It really is a better way of life, but if you're not ready then you're not ready. It's absolutely 100% up to you and your God.