You have made it this far. You have made it to the point where you are taking into consideration your habits. You are weighing the risks to your physical and mental health of continuing down the current path, or instead of giving it up to embrace sober living. As we all know from the popularity of its role in movies, TV shows, music, and many other forms of popular culture, sobriety and beating addiction is not an easy thing to do. And although addiction has been brought more to the forefront in recent years, it only touches on the truth of the matter.
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Fortunately, it is encouraging to know others have gone through similar battles, including this initial one you are at now: weighing the pros and cons of giving up addiction now. Below are some of the common reasons fellow recovering addicts have cited as inspiration towards their road to recovery. These may not all be relevant to your personal affliction, but they may just be that final spark needed to begin living clean and sober.
10 Reasons to Give Up Addiction Now
Change
One of the most common words used by addicts in describing what they want from beating addiction is to change. A lot of this stems from past actions fueled by the addiction that has left mental scars on their idea of who they are and how they interact with the world. Recovery will offer both the strength to take a hard look at your past actions, and also the freedom of a sober life in which you can look in the mirror knowing full well you who is in control. Change is starting now, and will continue to ebb and flow through the recovery process.
Respect
What you are attempting to do is hard, very hard in fact, and it commands respect. You can begin right now by respecting yourself for being open to beating addiction, and also for being able to accept the respect of others for your choice of a new lifestyle.
Reconnect
Often a life of addiction leaves people feeling isolated, lonely, and cut off from the loved ones in their lives. Be it the addicts own choice, or the result of how their addiction has hurt or affected other people, recovery provides a way to reconnect to these important relationships.
Remember
Addiction has powerful affects on our mental capabilities, and it is very common for those coming out of its grasps to long for a better memory. The positive is that for all those memories that have been lost, there are equally, if not more, ahead of you.
Security
The life of an addict is full of ups and downs, including physically, emotionally, or financially. These constant swings in moods and insecurities is extremely hard to deal with, let alone feel good about when you wake up in the morning. Imagine the calm feeling of waking up each morning or going to be at night without the constant worry that addiction brings with it. Even in the harder moments, you can feel secure in your strength to have chosen a path of becoming addiction free.
Health
Although this is obvious, it is still an important motivator for many facing giving up their addictions. While in the throws, it can be easy to get lost or out of touch with your body and with your health. It does not take long after beginning recovery to see what a stark difference clean, sober living brings to your body and mind. And with all of the renewed friendships, the security, the strength and the respect you are fostering while sober, you will now have the health to live longer and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Strength
Proving to yourself that you have it in you to do this is incredibly motivating. You will be using this strength to overhaul the life that is making you unhappy, and that is something not to easily dismiss. Many addicts site this as an important piece to their recovery not only at the onset, but throughout their journey of beating addiction.
Support
Sober living can open up whole new communities of support to you that you previously did not know existed. One of the unique and wonderful aspects of addiction recovery is that it relies heavily on the support of others who have gone through and are currently going through similar journeys. After the isolation and harshness of life under addiction’s shadow, you may find that such supportive groups turn into life-long relationships.
Discovery
With sobriety comes clarity, and with clarity your eyes, mind, and body open up in new ways. Perhaps unbeknownst to the addict, their relationship with the world around them in clouded by their addiction. Once this is peeled away, they attest to feeling that they are discovering, or perhaps rediscovering, even menial aspects of their existence. Find the real you by ditching addictive behaviors and join those who find pleasure in their daily sober discoveries.
Your life choices up until this point have driven you to this information and to seek out the other options beyond addiction. You know already that an addicted life is not a full life, and you are ready to pursue the joy that lies within sober living. This is a solid reason to give up addiction.
To all of the points made above, your mind may be providing you with an equal number of alternatives as to why sober living is not for you, or maybe just not right now, or maybe tomorrow, or maybe even next year. Now, take another look at the above 10 reasons to give up addiction now, and ask yourself if you want to live another day without them. For the numerous before you, and for the many more who will come after you, these will prove to ignite that little spark needed to embrace their that desire to break free, embrace sober living, and begin beating addiction once and for all.
