How to Explain Addiction to a Non-Addict

Millions of people have experimented with drugs, and many people regularly have a few glasses of wine with dinner. Most of those people can use these substances in moderation, and don’t overindulge to the point of jeopardizing their health, happiness and well-being. However, the situation is quite different for someone who develops an addiction. Once the powerful pull of a substance use disorder takes over your life, you lose the ability to say no.

As a person in recovery, you will eventually reach a point where you meet someone new and have to explain the difference between occasional substance use and a full-scale addiction. A casual user who has control over when and how much they drink or use drugs may say offhand things such as, “Just one won’t hurt,” without understanding how much harm it can do. What can you do when those around you don’t understand how challenging it is to walk the path of recovery?

Addiction Isn’t a Lack of Willpower

There is a persistent stigma around addiction that it stems from a place of weakness. However, addiction is a chronic, progressive disease. As with other such illnesses, there is no cure, but someone who has developed a substance misuse disorder can learn strategies to manage it and keep its symptoms at bay.

Many people, including some living with an active addiction, chalk substance misuse up to a lack of willpower. When you accept that you have a lifelong sickness, it becomes easier to stand by your convictions, avoid temptation and do what you need to do to protect your sobriety.

Become Your Best Advocate

As with any other chronic disease, there may be various times when your symptoms flare up. In recovery, you could struggle more during stressful times at work or with family members. Other triggering events could involve places or people that remind you of when you used to drink or use drugs. At these times, you must stay attuned to your triggers and take additional steps to protect yourself. If you encounter a situation that puts your sobriety at risk, give yourself permission to walk away. Tell people around you that you may need to leave an event suddenly if you feel endangered in any way.

Be an Educational Resource

Some people may not understand addiction as a disease because nobody has ever adequately explained it to them. With their permission, explain that many diseases and disorders may not display obvious symptoms, but that doesn’t make them any less genuine. People living with these conditions learn to develop strategies to help them manage their symptoms and live as close to a normal life as possible. No one would attempt to downplay the severity of heart disease, depression or diabetes. Addiction requires the same compassionate response.

Accept That Not Everyone Will Understand

No matter how thoroughly you spell out why addiction is an illness that requires you to manage it for the rest of your life, you will still encounter people who don’t believe you. You must be tolerant and have realistic explanations for what people will be able to accept. Some people you meet will not appreciate how many obstacles you have faced in achieving sobriety, and that’s OK.

What matters most is that you know what you’ve been through, what you need to be healthy and that you never compromise your health and happiness to meet other people’s expectations. Surround yourself with people who offer you the love and support you deserve. Your life is in the balance, and you deserve to live free of the burden of substance abuse.

Your Recovery Awaits

At Complete Harmony, we offer a holistic, non-12-step approach to treating substance misuse issues. To learn more about how we can help you achieve mental, physical and spiritual health, speak to a recovery advisor today.

Your Addiction Doesn’t Define You

For many years, you counted on drugs or alcohol to help you feel good about yourself and get through stressful periods in your life. Now that you’re working on your sobriety, you may be struggling to recognize who you are without these substances. Now is the time to commit to a fresh start, one in which addiction doesn’t control how you behave or see yourself.

Letting Go of Labels

Despite some progress society has made in recent decades, there is still a stigma around substance misuse and mental health disorders. Even people who have been sober for years might feel compelled to apologize for addiction as a shortcoming or a fall from grace.

You may have issues with substance abuse, but your life is larger than the label of “addict.” Recovery can free you to discover a passion for things like cooking, painting or spiritual practices such as yoga or meditation. To move past the guilt and shame associated with addiction, you need to embrace yourself as a whole person instead of focusing on one dimension of your experiences.

Replacing Shame With Positivity

Shame is a natural human emotion. Everyone has at least one thing they wish they could go back and change about their past, but dwelling on it is a sign that you are overly focused on negative thinking.

If you often feel worthless, or undeserving of love and happiness, you need to remember you are equally as valuable as everyone else. Eliminating negative self-talk can improve your mood and your self-esteem, and allows you to live the rich and fulfilling life you should strive to pursue.

Many people in early recovery incorrectly believe that any setback, no matter how small, means they are not good enough, or that they haven’t put in the right amount of effort to deserve the rewards that accompany sobriety. However, there is no such thing as perfection. Instead of getting frustrated or beating yourself up about mistakes you’ve made, welcome them as a learning experience that is helping you make progress.

Learning to Talk Through Your Feelings

Actively maintaining an addiction often requires secrecy and deceit. You may have kept your spouse in the dark about where you were or what you spent money on. Perhaps you were dishonest with your boss about having to leave work early for a dentist’s appointment, when in reality you were going to meet up with your dealer to buy more drugs. And you almost certainly lied to yourself about the extent of the damage you were causing to your health and happiness by abusing drugs or alcohol.

Now that you are clean and pursuing your recovery goals, you might find these old deceptive habits are hard to break. However, it is essential to be as open and honest as possible if you’re working on getting out from under the burdens of addiction. If you need help, feel lonely or are having a stressful day, reach out to your sober support network and talk to a friend, a sponsor or your therapist. Don’t get trapped in a cycle of negativity and guilt. Those feelings can erode the progress you’ve made.

Experiencing Gratitude

Learning to embrace gratitude is a vital part of recovery. You have received a unique opportunity to reinvent yourself, free of the substances that were crushing your spirit. Your addiction will always be part of who you are, but it’s not your whole story.

At Complete Harmony, we believe in a holistic approach to recovery that helps heal people physically, mentally and spiritually. If you are ready to explore our treatment options and learn how to find a healing home at our beach retreat, contact us today.