There comes a time in everyone’s recovery when the pink cloud you’re floating on suddenly disappears from underneath you.
Usually, you don’t so much as step off as come crashing down into a pit of despair, distress and discontent.
You might be clean and sober, but you’re back in your addiction, and that feeling can be summed up by three words: restless, irritable, and discontent.
And you could even be thinking of soothing your pain through relapse.
The “Doctor’s Opinion” from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous describes it as feeling “restless, irritable, and discontented,” looking for “the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks – drinks which they see others taking with impunity.”
It’s a hard spot to be in, but those feelings aren’t facts. You can climb out of the RID pit and get back on your pink cloud in just a few steps.
1. Tell on yourself.
We’re only as sick as our secrets. If you keep your struggle quiet, you’re likely to be consumed by it. But if you share at a meeting, with your sponsor, or with a recovery friend, you’ll feel an immediate relief from having it all out in the open. You might also be happy to learn that someone else has been through the same struggle too – and they could even share some tips with you.
2. Get into gratitude.
It’s impossible to be grateful and unhappy at the same time. Try making a gratitude list – no matter how short – or listen to a guided meditation on gratitude from Youtube. You’ll flip your thinking and get on the path to serenity in no time.
3. Get out of your head.
Your addiction wants you to focus on how bad you feel. Turn your thinking outward and those feelings could fade away. Is there a meeting that needs a hand with coffee, or cleanup? Can you do a good deed for a friend, or even a stranger? Even something as small as smiling at a passerby can help clear your head of negative thoughts.
4. Go to a meeting.
The best way to combine all three of those steps is to go to a 12-Step meeting. Then, go to another. Before long, you’ll be riding high on a pink cloud again.
Clean Path can help you build or strengthen your road to recovery. Contact us today.