Emotions can drive people to use drugs or drink. Maybe drinking happens to de-stress or to let off some steam from work, but it may also be used as an analgesic against depression or anxiety. Lots of emotions can become the reason people use substances, which is why those same emotions can trigger the desire to use those substances in recovery. Learn more about how to combat those feelings and support recovery long term.
Addictive Behaviors
Learning to manage triggers is a challenge for people in recovery. People who drink or use drugs do not like to explore their feelings. It is hard work, letting those painful emotions out and coping with them is even more difficult, especially when those old coping mechanisms are gone. In recovery, everyone learns to try things differently and seeing them with fresh eyes. Here are some suggestions for combatting that feeling that substances are the only way to cope with addictive triggers:
- Notice: look around, observe, and notice what is happening. Many people with addictive behaviors have become used to avoiding emotions. They discover a limited understanding of feelings. Take this as an opportunity to get to know yourself better. Give it a name. If feelings have become an enemy, now is the time to make friends
- Sit with the feeling. Honor this feeling inside yourself. It is not going to harm you to feel it. Take the struggle away and let it become a message for your life. Think about what the feeling is telling you. Anger is often a sign boundaries are crossed. Let anger clue you in to where boundaries lie. Sadness or fear can tell you something about your values. Reflect on what you learn and try to let those sit inside you for awhile.
- Distract from big emotions. Big emotions are hard ones to deal with but tolerating them is key to turning the volume down and setting yourself free. Distract yourself, build strong muscles and work towards peaceful healing. In calm moments, prepare by creating lists of things you can do and places you can go if the feeling triggers overwhelming emotions. Keep a list in a safe place that is easy enough to reach.
Emotions Are Temporal
Know that emotions, like life, are temporal in that they don’t last forever. It comes for a moment, then in a fleeting second can be gone. To hold onto stale emotions only charges you with this electricity that emboldens that negative emotion, or even a good one, but does not allow room for it to grow. Practice the techniques and let everything be temporal and know it will be gone. Try breathing exercises and meditation as physical practices to help you embrace the life you are living and all the feelings that may come along for the ride.
A Step in the Right Direction provides quality care for clients seeking support for addiction recovery. We teach people how to live a sober life through programs, therapeutic support, and evidence-based therapies. Our recovery program is staffed by people who understand the power of addiction. For more information sober living programs for men and women as well as recovery programs, call (877) 377-3702.
