Addiction Radio EP006 Professional Relationships and Recovery

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You’ve got to work, at least until the robots take over, so what does that mean for your recovery and sobriety?

What steps do you need to take to protect yourself and your career when you have an addiction?

We’re talking addiction and work this episode of the podcast because it’s an important subject to dive into. You spend a large amount of your life at either work or school and undoubtedly your addictions, sobriety and recovery will impact many of the relationships there too.

In fact, you can’t really avoid having them interconnected at all. When you consider just how much time you are spending at these places, it becomes really critical that you think carefully about what actions you do or don’t take.

This months episode breaks down as follows:

• Reading the room

  • When fighting an addiction there’s never a one size fits all category and that’s what makes professional working or educational relationships that much more complicated. Some people have great relationships with their co-workers and can trust confiding in them while others may put their careers in jeopardy by doing so. Some people work for companies where they are protected by a union a HR while others risk getting fired if their company found out about their addiction. Before saying anything to anyone, if that’s what you choose to do, it’s critical that you know the ramifications of doing so. It may help you to be honest or honesty may cause you to get fired on the spot. Does anyone even need to know about your addiction or will an explanation of your behavior portray you as honest and forthcoming? You need to read the room, know your rights, and understand all possible outcomes before taking any action.

• Explaining your addiction

  • Everyone will fall into one of two categories when it comes to each professional relationship you have: you either tell them about your addiction or you don’t. With that being said, each professional relationship you have may need a different approach. Some people you may want to tell while others you may not want or need to tell.

• Having a back-up plan

  • You might be in a situation where you were partaking in your addiction with your classmates or co-workers but aren’t ready to tell them the whole truth and to be honest, when it comes to professional relationships it’s really none of their business why you stopped drinking or smoking or whatever. If you find yourself needing to have excuses because well, it’s the workforce and that’s just reality it’s a good idea to have backup plans always in your pocket.

• Toxic co-workers or classmates

  • Toxic co-workers can cause so much distress and turmoil especially when tackling an addiction. We’ve all dealt with toxic co-workers or classmates at some point in our lives but when those toxic people start to interfere with your sobriety or your ability to stay away from your addiction it’s important to recognize that and do what it takes to keep your distance. Toxicity doesn’t generally just go away on it’s own so waiting it out to see if things get better secretly hoping they quit or change schools or jobs  is never a good idea. If there is a person or people in your professional life who are making you miserable do whatever it takes to distance yourself. If that mean changing classes if you’re in school or changing departments at your work then take immediate action to do so. Your ability to fight your addiction and fight it for good depends on you having solid and healthy relationships and that includes professional relationships too.

• When to talk to authorities

  • You may be trying to fight your addiction but sometimes work or school is what consistently causes you to feel triggered or have a relapse. What do you do if you feel like you have exhausted all of your options and you’re in position where someone, multiple people, or even the work itself is so stressful that you feel like if something doesn’t change drastically you may be putting your ability to fight your addiction, your sobriety or even your career on the line. Before it gets to that breaking point you may have to talk to someone. It’s better to take action now because it doesn’t always get easier.

• Knowing when to search for a new job

  • Even if you do all these things – what if nothing changes and no matter how hard you try you just keep feeling like you’re treading water? That’s a quite common place to be in when fighting an addiction. Sometimes when you are fighting an addiction you have to think about making big changes and one of those changes may be looking for a new job or a new school especially if your work situation is connected to your addiction in any way.

Thanks for listening; if you’re struggling with addiction and sobriety, check out our online platform, Sobriety Success. Take a trial of the platform to see how it can help you with online courses, monthly mastermind sessions, Q&A forum and much more.

Get started today!

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