Addiction Treatment Centers » Common Stumbling Blocks in Recovery that can lead you to Relapse

Common Stumbling Blocks in Recovery that can lead you to Relapse

Beating Addiction - How to overcome common stumbling blocks in recovery

stumbling blocks in recovery
Photo by Bibi

This the fourth part in a series about beating addiction. The first 3 parts were:

1. The secret of overcoming addiction and alcoholism.

2. Transforming your life with a spiritual experience.

In this post, I’ll be outlining some of the major stumbling blocks that people experience in trying to beat addiction, and how you can overcome them.

Common Block # 1: Denial

Denial operates on 2 levels: First, denial keeps us from even getting our foot in the door when it comes to recovery. This refers to the addict or alcoholic who continues to use and refuses to admit that they have a problem. But the other, more insidious form of denial can attack us at any time, even after we’ve been clean and sober for years. Even in recovery, we can still get stuck in denial regarding different areas of our lives. An example of this is when our peers see us doing something that they see as destructive or unhealthy, but we refuse to look at our behavior. This can be particularly tricky because this form of denial almost always involves relationships.

Solution: Stay open to helpful “criticism” from your peers in recovery. If one person tells you that you’re out of line, that’s one thing….but if a couple of people start telling you you’re out of line, then it’s time to stop and take a look at yourself. Stay open to this type of feedback. We might be defensive at first, but if you stop later and think about people’s criticism of you, then you can effectively grow in leaps and bounds by overcoming various levels of denial. Be willing to examine your own faults.

Common Block # 2: Underestimating the investment necessary to recover

Newcomers who have never tried to recover before almost always underestimate their addiction. This is huge. Beating addiction takes a tremendous commitment, and a seriously concentrated effort. I went to 3 treatment centers, and finally lived in long term treatment for almost 2 full years, before I finally “got it.”

Solution: Our life experience has conditioned us this way: we can achieve modest success in most of our ventures while only applying a modest effort. But this is not true in recovery. It takes a full commitment to a recovery program in order to achieve long term sobriety.

stumbling blocks in recovery
Photo by joemiranda

Common Block # 3: Resentments

Resentments have been dubbed the number one offender when it comes to relapse, via the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous–and for good reason. Letting anger stew and fester within your soul is a sure way to screw up your recovery. Resentments consume so much mental energy that you have nothing left with which to feel positive.

Solution: Practice forgiveness. If you’re angry at someone, try praying–for their well being. Bless them with all your heart. Also, practice gratitude, and integrate it into your daily life. Let anger and resentment slip away. Take joy in your own life, and stop living through the hatred of others. Let go.

Common Block # 4: Self pity

Self pity is one of my favorite character defects–I used to use it all the time. While it might feel comfortable to throw yourself a pity-party and play the victim role for awhile, it is extremely self-destructive. Why? Because self pity is dis-empowering, addictive, and cyclical. You feel sorry for yourself, then you do nothing to take positive action in your life, and then the cycle starts over again. Very unhealthy for recovering addicts or alcoholics.

Solution: Gratitude is the direct cure–it obliterates self pity and starts you on the path of positive thinking and action. If you are prone to self-pity, then you need to practice gratitude, every day, in order to recover. Make it a part of your life.

Common Block # 5: Laziness (lack of footwork)

This is the reason that many people can attend AA meetings every single day and still manage to relapse. It’s not just your support system–it’s how you change your life….from the inside out. Go back to block number 2 if you are struggling with this: it takes a mountain of effort to overcome a serious addiction. Period. You can’t just “think” your way sober, or read a bunch of literature and suddenly be “cured.”

Solution: Put in genuine effort and attack recovery like you life depends on it (it does). Use the principle of overwhelming force. Motivate yourself to take positive action.

Overcoming these blocks is important to a successful recovery. When I first got clean and sober, all I could do was focus on not picking up a drink or a drug. As I gained strength in my recovery, I started to set other goals that were not directly related to beating addiction. But it turns out that a lot of those accomplishments have played a huge role in my recovery. So how can we know what to focus on in recovery? How can we make the best choices that help us in our recovery? Check back next week for an article about how to prioritize your life in order to have a successful recovery.

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