One of the major factors in our struggles with addiction is how much inner turmoil we experience as addicts, how conflicted we tend to feel in our recovery, and a huge element of that is the allegiance we feel to the other people in our lives who are also struggling with addiction. We know we need to get better, but we don’t want to leave them alone to suffer on their own. We want to help them recover as well, but as we know, each of us only makes changes when we’re ready to, and sometimes our loved ones aren’t in the same place we are. How do our relationships contribute to our feelings of being stuck, conflicted and in turmoil? How do they compound our addictive patterns?
Brought Down By Our Loved Ones’ Struggles
For many of us, our relationships with other addicts are some of the closest, most important and most meaningful relationships in our lives. These are our family members, dear friends, and partners. We feel a sense of obligation to them. We feel guilty if we’re not able to be there for them. We might take steps forward in our recovery and feel guilty that we can’t bring them along with us. Sometimes we’ll make strides toward sobriety but then find ourselves back in our old addictive patterns once we’ve spent time with them. We might be tempted or triggered by their drug use. Seeing them suffering might be so stressful that we find ourselves relapsing just to cope. Sometimes our loved ones’ addictions are the cause of the conflict and inner turmoil we feel that feed our own addictions. Our relationships with other addicts can take away from our ability to achieve inner peace for ourselves.
Conflicted Because of Relationship Issues
Sometimes our inner turmoil when dealing with addiction has less to do with the addiction itself and more to do with the relationship issues we’re having to contend with. For many of us living with addiction and mental illness, our relationships are huge sources of stress for us. They are filled with conflict and contention. We don’t always practice healthy conflict resolution and communication techniques. We may not have learned these skills yet. We might find ourselves deliberating about whether or not to keep this relationship in our lives. We might feel that their presence in our lives is harmful to us and to our recovery. The constant conflict we feel just around the relationship itself can be the source of inner turmoil for us that keeps us stuck in our addictions and patterns of unwellness. We might be using our drug of choice to distract ourselves from how stressful the relationship issues have become.
The caring, compassionate staff of The Guest House is here to support you as you start your journey to recovery and healing. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information. theguesthouseocala.com 3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488