As if giving up drugs and alcohol wasn’t hard enough, addiction doesn’t end there. Shopping, sex, exercise, food, and so many other factors can fill the same hole that drugs and alcohol once did, robbing you of your serenity and setting you up for another messy disaster.
It all comes back to the fact that addiction is a brain disease. If it was simply a moral failing, you should be good to go once you put down the drink or the drug.
But because your brain becomes hooked on a particular chemical response, it will look to achieve that same response in other ways once you deprive it of drugs and alcohol.
Food, shopping, sex, and more — there are countless ways to keep feeding that addictive loop in your brain.
So if you find yourself feeling deep in your addiction — restless, irritable, and discontent — take a look at the rest of your life and see how you might be using and abusing other substances or experiences. As part of your inventory, explore how your disordered thinking can spread to other spheres of your life.
Luckily, there’s one way to avoid that sneaky sort of relapse from the start: Keep the drug- or drink-sized hole filled, with fellowship, recovery, and your Higher Power.
With a Higher Power and a program in your life, there’s no room for anything else to distract you from living the kind of life you’ve dreamed of — the kind of life you got clean and sober to achieve.
Call us today for more information as to how we can help you stay clean, sober, and serene!