Isn’t it like having a short and long term target? The much-maligned white knuckling is inevitable at first. We can make plans for the future, which is great, but withdrawals and cravings are going to happen, and willpower and white knuckling will be required to get through the early days. Alongside this, we can start to plan ahead too.
I’m not sure it’s impossible as your key worker said, Kes. You do need to deal with the nitty gritty day by day feelings too as well as the longer-term stuff.