Getting sober is incredibly difficult. Like anything else we accomplish that is hard, it makes sense that we would hope for positive changes to come from the process of getting sober, and they do. That said, it can be easy to fall into thinking along the lines of “I’m sober so every aspect of my life should be perfect now”. While this may be a slightly exaggerated form of the thoughts many struggle with in recovery, this sense of “this shouldn’t be a struggle because I’m sober now” is a fairly common one in recovery.

This can extend to so many aspects of our life. Relationships with family and friends, job situation, financial situation, etc. can all be a source of frustration for us if we are looking at them with the mindset of this “should” have improved more than it has. We want our relationships to be better, a job we love, more money, and feel like all things should be quickly falling into place since we are sober. The reality is, life is still hard, even in sobriety. We still will have hard times, things we struggle with, worries, and goals to reach. These things are part of life. While it is easy to get frustrated with things not happening fast enough in recovery, and at times feel like other aspects of our life should miraculously be great because we are taking care of our substance abuse struggles, it’s important to remember that recovery doesn’t guarantee a perfect or easy life. It will make navigating life’s challenges easier however.

Questions about addiction/recovery? Please feel free to get in touch!