Needing Support Throughout Our Recovery

Sometimes once we’ve finished treatment or when we have a good deal of sober time under our belts, we assume we won’t need further support to help us along in our recovery. We’d like to think that the hardest part of our work is done, and that we’ve overcome the most intense challenges that come early on in the recovery process. Sometimes we think that because we’ve managed to get sober and stay sober for a certain period of time that our recovery process is over, that we can now live our lives normally. The trouble with these lines of thinking is that we sometimes will fall back into old patterns of addiction and unwellness because we’re not staying diligent with our goals and intentions. We’re not working to keep ourselves on track with our sobriety. We’re not being vigilant with ourselves and monitoring ourselves closely. We can find ourselves falling back into old harmful habits and even creating new ones for ourselves that undermine our sobriety and our overall health. We can experience worsened depression, anxiety and other mental health issues, in addition to our addictive patterns, because we’re afraid of support and resisting it at all costs.

We Reject Support Because We Crave Independence

Oftentimes we reject help and support throughout our recovery because we want to be independent. For years many of us have been dependent on other people, on our drugs of choice, on unhealthy coping mechanisms, and on unhealthy relationships. We want to be able to say that we’ve finally achieved independence in our lives, that we’re able to handle life on our own terms, and that we’re able to function on our own. We feel bad about ourselves when we don’t feel independent. We feel insecure and self-hating. Our insecurities, as we know, can contribute to our addictions. We use our drugs of choice to make ourselves feel better about ourselves, to escape the painful voices of our inner demons, to distract ourselves from how much we hate ourselves. We resist support because we see it as a sign of weakness. We see needing other people as evidence that we’re weak, vulnerable and dependent. We’re tired of feeling dependent on anyone, or anything, outside of ourselves. We’re fed up with feeling down on ourselves. We’re ashamed of ourselves for not being able to stand on our own.

There Is Strength in Asking for Help

The truth is, though, there is no shame in needing help. We are not weak if we need support, and there is nothing wrong with us if we can’t do it all on our own. In fact, being able to identify when we have a problem and admit when we need help are huge signs of strength. It takes a tremendous amount of courage, inner strength and confidence to be able to let someone help us. When we do allow ourselves to be supported, we learn so much about ourselves and our addictions that can help us to stay sober long term. We reconnect with ourselves and gain more understanding of who we are as individuals, who we are beyond our addictions. We receive valuable insight and guidance. We learn crucial life lessons and coping skills that add to the growth and evolution of our recovery. We grow stronger, more resilient and more empowered. We open ourselves up to other people and to all of the inspiration, encouragement and motivation they can offer us. We find lifelong friends, connections and sources of emotional support that we may never have found if we hadn’t been able to admit we needed help.

Learning About Human Nature

When we allow ourselves to be helped, we learn important truths about human nature that help us to feel even better about ourselves and more empowered in our recovery. We learn that we all need help at some point in our lives, whether or not we struggle with addiction. We all fall on hard times. We all need other people. None of us can handle everything on our own, and when we try to, we’re often left worse off than when we started, with even more obstacles to contend with, more challenges to deal with, more hurdles to try and overcome. Sharing our pain and our burdens with other people helps us to lighten our load. It helps us to tackle life’s many challenges with more ease and grace. It makes things easier and more pleasant to deal with.

What We Gain From Opening Up to Support

We all have people in our lives who want to help us, who won’t think any less of us if we need help. These people care about us and want to be there to support us. If we’re feeling alone, in our recovery or in our lives overall, we can remember that we might find that support we need in people we haven’t even met yet. We might check into rehab and find that the staff there is so helpful and kind that they are the sources of support we’ve been looking for. We might try therapy and find that our therapist helps us to uncover deeply rooted issues and really cultivate happiness in our lives. We might go to a support group meeting and find a sponsor that helps us to stay on track with our sobriety. We might go to a recovery group event and meet our new best friend. Not only is there nothing to be ashamed of in needing help, there is so much to be gained when we do open ourselves up to the support available all around us.

Discover your path. Discover your purpose. Discover your life! At WinGate Wilderness Therapy, our mission is to support you as you heal.

Contact us today!
(800) 560-1599
wingatewildernesstherapy.com
P.O. Box 347 Kanab, UT 84741