Most of us feel down on occasion — it’s a normal part of life when we are faced with problems and feel overwhelmed. When it becomes more of an infrequent situation and you begin to feel hopeless and full of despair, what you are feeling may have become depression. If the amount of time you are experiencing these emotions lengthens and it begins to impact your ability to function on a daily basis, it’s time to consider getting some help.
Long term recovery from addiction can often be a difficult and hard battle to fight, taking strength and perseverance on the part of the addict. It takes courage first to admit to being an addict, and then to continue the daily struggle against the addiction and the accompanying toxic behaviours.
There’s more to recovery than abstinence. Challenging situations will pop up throughout your journey. In early recovery, many people work hard to avoid going places or seeing people that may trigger them. But that’s not often a workable long-term plan.
It’s likely, if you’ve decided you have a problem with addiction, that you’ve felt alone for a long time. One of the symptoms of addiction is a tendency to isolate. If you have made a decision to do something about your addiction issues, continuing to isolate yourself from others can make recovery difficult, if not impossible.
It takes courage to change, to deal with your demons and to look deep within yourself to take the steps to live a different life. For most who are experiencing addiction or other problems, this is how life has unfolded for many years — chaos, unhealthy and damaged relationships, little success at work and unfulfilled dreams. Toxic behaviours, addiction and mental health issues have left their mark.