When you watch TV shows or talk shows about addiction, you will always see someone who is worse off than you. You know the age old saying about hitting rock bottom – basically implying that people don’t need professional help until they have lost everything in their life? That sort of mentality is dangerous. It’s dangerous because there are millions of people who know they are headed down a dangerous path but because of media and stigma, they don’t believe it’s bad enough to warrant help.
These are the people who have careers, families, friends, and an active social life. These are people who are really good at masking their daily struggles and can pull off hangovers and bad decisions.
If this is you, I want you to stop and think for a moment. Do you really want to lose everything? Because at some point, you will. Why not tackle your addiction before it gets the best of you, your family, and friends? There’s no shame in just stopping.
We live in an unfortunate world where reaching out for help can jeopardize a lot. While there are so many advocates who are trying to change this, and believe me, they are doing a fantastic job and making so much needed progress, the reality is, it’s still there. Most people don’t have the luxury of just taking 3 months off from work without losing their stride in their career, or having family or friends doubt or underestimate them.
It is a lot easier to obtain sobriety and stay sober when your answer to not drinking or doing is drugs is that you just don’t rather than stating you had a problem, you lost everything, and you have to work your butt off to get it all back.
Getting sober from home certainly does have some disadvantages but overall, it’s a great alternative for those who just can’t pick up and leave everything behind for 3 months. Or perhaps, not need to! There is not harm in trying this approach first.
