ArtFriend

I am not trying to be a smart a$$, but what does "facing your demons" really mean? I have heard this expression for years and I am still perplexed. It applies big time in the recovery field, so I thought I would throw the question out to see what you think.

To me, facing your demons means getting in touch with the issues that are causing you to be stuck in your life. Yet, being in touch, or dealing with, or facing or whatever terminology you use is very vague. Acknowledging is not the same as eliminating.

What do you think?

Soberwolf

Things that ppl might drink on rather than turn your back and take the bottle you face your demon/s Sober

Or rather than running away from the problem at hand you stop turn around and face your demon fear problem whatever

Whatever that might be i wish everyone luck

dcrr

In terms of alcoholism, to me my demons are all the negativity the alcohol brings out in me when I drink. I believe these demons are always there inside me however when I am sober I am able to recognize them, accept them and deal with them appropriately as I live my life. I can face them when I am sober. When I drink I ignore them, the cage opens and they run free to cause so much destruction.

hopeful4

For myself, it means confronting issues that I have buried for a long time. Confronting that these issues exist, working through them, addressing them, and changing my life.

MIRecovery

Drinking convinced me I was honest, smart, successful, happy, brave, generous, and kind.

It was a very rude and humbling experience to realize I was none of these things. That was when I realized what demon's were all about

desypete

facing a demon to me is facing anything that stops me from doing the right best thing for me
for example
i was once terrified of spiders if one came into the house i would be stood on the chair and get one of my kids to get rid of it lol

that couldnt go on so i had to get brave and face this fear,
so whenever a spider would show itself in future i would get a glass and put it over the spider and slid some card underneath it and carried the spiders outside and let it go

i would be shaking and full of fear the frist few times i had to do this as i was so dam scared of them, but today i can do it without even a single fear hitting me amazing what happens when you face fears head on in life

we can and must do this to grow otherwise we stay the same

Aellyce

Exactly. It's a process. First we need to recognize, acknowledge, and accept these "demons". Come out of denial and accept there is a problem, if you wish. Then, only THEN can we move forward to figuring out solutions, methods, basically our personal approach to recovery. And then we need to stay on track, keep doing the work.

To me, "facing" (in the literal sense of the word) is the first step, the real work comes afterward and it has to be heavily action-based. I think "elimination" is the process of recovery. Some people claim themselves as recovered after a good amount of time and effort doing the work. In the context of addiction, I think this is definitely lots of hard work and usually takes quite some time.

Anna

For me, one of my biggest demons was being a control-freak/perfectionist. It was really hard for me to 'let go' and stop trying to control every and all outcomes in my life. I had to learn to trust that things would work out without my intervention. I had to learn the only thing I could control was my reaction to things happening around me.

JanieJ

Facing your demons is an ambiguous phrase, isn't it ?

For me, my "demons" are my addictive personality and OCD tendencies. Facing them, to me, means admitting I have a problem and not living in denial, so that the work of recovery and hopefully healing can begin.

it probably means others things to other people though.

GhostFace

How about avoiding your demon's?

I have a lot of toxic relationship that
Only consist of drinking, wasting time all for entertainment.

How do you avoid?

ArtFriend

I used to be a control freak too Anna. I spent so much energy trying to control everything and everyone. Then one day (I say one day, but it was probably over time) I had an epiphany. I thought, "who is controlling who here?" I was being controlled by my obsession with controlling! I still try to control, but not nearly like I used to.

Climber122

I like Ghost Face's take on it - although I would say "avoid" only after there has been a "recognization" first. (At least in US culture) many people have this tendency to want to "beat" everything... "Beat cancer, beat addiction, beat depression" etc., when we can often find the most strength by simply recognizing and accepting our "demons" and realizing they are part of us. I am an alcoholic, and it goes way, way deep into my brain and genes. I was an alcoholic before I took my first drink. It's part of who I am, but I choose to be sober today and life is pretty good. A big part of recovery is not denying who we are (including demons, shortcomings etc.) but recognizing them, and then avoiding the behaviors that result from not recognizing or denying those parts of us we think need to be eradicated. Good post ArtFriend.

Aellyce

My most powerful personal "demon" for me is definitely in the fear/anxiety/insecurity axis. Every behavior, feeling, cognition, etc I've ever had problems with, could be traced down to these, I think. It took me a long while and many different kinds of self work to even recognize this, let alone make peace with it and move forward. The interesting feature is that since my early childhood, I've developed many, many ways to cope with my fears, and a lot of these worked well for a while. Then they did not work and I have had to find new ways. My alcohol addiction has been really just a tiny piece in the universe of these processes. Ironically, many of my decisions and actions in my life have been described as very high-risk and brave, I got the feedback many times throughout my life that people would not have attempted to do many of the things I have. I am quite happy about this pattern and character. But yeah, definitely fear and anxiety for me, both.

GhostFace

Fear is definitely one of my biggest fear that I avoid at times at all cost. Even talking to a new female, the fear of rejection paralysis me to the point that I do not aproache. When I drink my fear numbs at time and I gain confidence resulting in me drinking alot more and becoming a hot mess

ArtFriend

I think of fear and anxiety being the result of the demons, rather than the demons themselves.

ArtFriend

I personally don't think avoiding demons is a good thing. Until you recognize them and work through them (whatever that means) they will continue to haunt you. (nice thread for Halloween, LOL).

Hawks

To me, it's meant looking for the things that used to be masked over with booze.

SoberLeigh

For me it was a deep look within to identify the deficiencies in my character or personality led me to find comfort or a solution in alcohol.

sectownkid

I strongly agree with this ^

just hope with time and healing i can slay them demons all together

Verte

Artfriend, you ask really interesting questions. Thanks. I may have not responded before but have definitely considered and thought through them.

Years ago I worked with a very calm, yet intense person. No matter what the stress, she always clicked smoothly along. Her secret, she said, was her time spent yoga training - that was her time to let it all roll around, off and out. Poses were held for a really (really) long time. Oftentimes when her mind became quiet and totally peaceful, a *seemingly* random thought might pop in her head. These random thoughts were the most important to her, the ones to pay attention to as they were barely noticeable during her day yet embedded nonetheless. And she would take a look, breathe and let it go.

Demons to me are those nagging thoughts and feelings I cannot ignore. They usually nag because I had not been paying attention. Almost always take up more energy to ignore or walk away than just recognize and let go. I'm trying to, at least.

Or demons are like the black cat seen out of the corner of my eye as I sit there engrossed in a great book. Instead of wondering all night if there really was a cat there, thinking I am going crazy, or needing to have my eyes checked - I may as well just put the book down, get off that warm couch and take a look around that corner. Put it to rest.

Boo! I carved a scary pumpkin today.