Last Drop Blog

It is not uncommon to get urges to relapse.

These urges can be pretty confusing and hard to understand. You can go from being motivated, feeling good, confident in you sobriety to feeling weak and willing to toss it all away. I have definitely had mental battles throughout my sobriety journey. I have thought about stopping, contemplating how I would be if I decided to go back to drinking, considering future events and how sobriety may impact them. Walking past bars, a sunny friday afternoon, a sporting event, a song… you name it, these can all lead to troubling thoughts that have me questioning why I chose to do this to myself.

“Well if I stopped now what would people think?” “It’s my life who cares if I go back to boozing?” “Would I still drink the exact same way?” “Would I be less depressed if I decided to drink again?”

It is important to remember at one point in time you made a conscious decision to remove this substance from your life because you determined it was the best thing for you. That was not an easy decision. You likely spent months, if not years contemplating it and finally you gained the courage to tackle this problem head on. You made the decision for you and no one else. So what should you do if you start questioning this decision?

I have some thoughts on this that may help, they have helped me.

Talk to someone about these thoughts. A family member, friend, significant other, therapist. Get them out of your head and off your chest. I assure you the outcome will likely lead to less of an urge to keep having these thoughts. You may answer some of your own questions by just talking things through.

Remove yourself from a difficult situation if you happen to have found yourself in one. Don’t be afraid to just up and leave a party, bar, game or event. There is no shame in taking time for yourself to slow these thoughts down and it will prevent impulsive decisions.

Write. I am not saying you need to write blog posts like me, but you should work to journal consistently. On top of this you should go back and skim through your past writings. You will probably find something you wrote and it will remind you of your “why” the reason or reasons you chose to prioritize yourself.

Find positive distractions. Listen to music you enjoy, exercise, watch a funny movie/show, cook a nice dinner, clean you workspace or bedroom. Sometimes you just need to take action because the thoughts or urges can be too tough to sit with. So get your mind off of them.

Remind yourself that you are not the only sober person on this planet. Although at times it can feel like it. Watch sobriety videos on YouTube, find posts on reddit, search your area for sober groups, read books, listen to podcasts, google famous people who are sober. Remind yourself it is possible and with time it will get easier.

My closing here will be in reference to the blog title. A lot of times we seek for motivation and the hard truth is motivation is not always going to be there for you. Lately, it has been pretty hard to find for me. This is when you need to rely on discipline. You are either going to struggle with being disciplined enough to keep going or struggle with the regret of stopping.

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” -Jim Rohn