Many of us fondly remember the comfortable feeling of being in a bar or being around friends and family who are drinking or using drugs. We want to hold onto that part of our lives and feel that we will be able to simply not use drugs or drink when we are in an environment where others are. The situation, however, is more complex and depends entirely upon where we are on our journey of recovery. In early recovery, it is often best to avoid being around situation where drugs and alcohol are present. There is little reason to risk our sobriety by putting ourselves in a position where we will be tempted. We may attempt to justify our reasoning for being in such situations, but even if our intentions are simply to be around friends or family, we must be aware of the possibility that we could give in to temptation. Early recovery is a time when we are attempting to find a new design for living, free from substances. If we knowingly put ourselves back in old situations, surrounded by drug or alcohol use, we are giving into our old patterns of thinking that drove us into addiction in the first place. Through our recovery program, however, we find that eventually our mental obsession with using is removed. We finally have built up enough of a defense against temptation that we can be in situation where drugs and alcohol are present without feeling the need to partake. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous explains, “For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically.” We find that we are placed in a “position of neutrality”, and no longer have the obsession, anxiety, and cravings that used to crop up whenever we were around drugs or alcohol. If faced with a situation we examine our motives for being there. If we have good reason, and are not in the situation because of the presence of alcohol and drugs, we feel comfortable not partaking. Addiction controlled our lives for so long and now, in sobriety, we don’t allow it to dictate where we will and will not go. Instead, we maintain an awareness of our inability to drink or use drugs, and go about our lives in sobriety.
Addiction doesn’t have to control your life. You can change your story and begin building a brighter future in sobriety by seeking help now. Oceanfront Recovery, a treatment facility in beautiful Laguna Beach, is dedicated to providing all the tools you need to grow and prosper in your recovery. For more information about treatment options, please call today: (877) 279-1777
