What do you have to lose by following through with your recovery?
 

Hi everybody, great forum and great site, got just over 90 days clean from opiates. ahhhh, life is grand!! my first post here. currently in a outpatient program and my counselor asked me an interesting question last night that kind of left me short of words.

What do you have to lose by following through with your recovery??

not, "by not following through with your recovery"
but, "by following through with your recovery"


So my question is what do you have to lose by following through with your recovery?

Take care everybody

Hi and Welcome,

Good for you with 90 days clean!

By following through with my recovery, I lost the illusions I had built about myself. They fell away from me, and what was left was my soul.

I may lose:
the horrid guilt of being a dick while drunk and not remembering it.

the sick nauseous feeling in the morning.

my racing heart when I'm trying to sleep. So loud it can wake me up.

the depression.

knocking many years off the end of my life.

May lose the opportunity to get fired at work for being hungover all the time.

List can go on and on.

Lots of terrible things. Some highlights:

I'd lose -

• drunken binges that break the hearts of those I love
• crippling anxiety and depression following a bout of drinking
• tension in my marriage over my drinking
• sinking to ever-increasing lows
• the shame. Oh man, the shame.
• having to account for missed commitments, work and other important obligations

But also:

• I'd lose my reason/excuse for not making some decisions I need to make in my life - I can always say "Well, until I am sober I can't act on this or that"
• A great way to punish myself, sabotage myself and/or force emotions to the surface that I otherwise deny - like grief for example
• The hope that I can drink normally again someday - which I am still trying to shake
• The escape that is so immediate - faster than any therapy, anti-depressant, exercise, meeting or meditation. And easier.

I'm new to this, so I guess there's things on both sides still for me. It was a really good exercise to do though. Thank you.

Jayne

I forgot to mention the ~$7300 my wife and I were spending on spirits each year. Not to belittle recovery for it's own right, but that's A LOT of cash! This reasoning helped us quit cigarettes. Here in NYC, a pack of American Spirit smokes are $10, which is about 7300 too!

Two bad habits that cost us about $15000, not to mention the health savings in the future, and the lost income from side effects of booze and smokes.

Someone once, a while back when I first joined said something that stuck with me.. it's simple... and likely a well known phrase but..

No one ever regrets not drinking (or using.. etc).

So true.

glad you got a lot out of this Jayne2-great list. these posts gave me a list of quite a few things i would lose.

paranoia
feelings of guilt and shame
dopesick feeling
depression
jail time
hopelessness.......


hey palemale never thought of it in $$$$ point of view, I spent many thousands on drugs over the years, and cigs, which i am currently trying to kick, the chantix isn't working so well.

anyway thanks to all, more replies appreciated.

I will lose my delusion that drinking all the time is alright. I will lose waking up feeling horrible. I will lose the possibility of having an accident with my car and hurting someone. I will lose some of my self hatred. I will lose the feeling of being 'lost' and afraid.