Many people go through a “honeymoon” period in early sobriety where it truly feels like everything is going absolutely wonderfully. They cannot imagine using or drinking ever again, life is good, and all their goals and dreams seem to be coming into focus. This is a wonderful feeling and understandably, one we want to hang onto very tightly. That said, sometimes our desire hold onto this feeling can cause problems. It can cause problems primarily when we start to struggle more in our sobriety again. When things have been going so well, it can be incredibly hard to admit to ourselves when struggles come up again.

That said, it’s important to be aware that neither the good times or the harder times are abnormal in sobriety. These ups and downs will happen. What is important is having the willingness to admit when we are struggling and get the help we need. Minimizing our struggles is rarely beneficial to us long term, even if we are doing it because we so desperately want to be back in that place where we were feeling so strong in our sobriety. Ignoring the warning signs that we aren’t doing so well only serves to increase the likelihood of a relapse/prolong relapses when they do happen.

Asking for help is difficult, but being able to ask for help when we initially start struggling in our sobriety is so much more beneficial long term than ignoring the problem until is a much bigger one. We can get back that place where we are feeling great and things are going well, but we may not be able to do it alone and it may never quite look like it did in that honeymoon phase. That is really and truly ok.

Questions about this topic or anything else addiction and sobriety related? Feel free to get in touch!