Understanding Nifaliophobia: The Fear of Being Sober

They don’t know when or how, but they trust that it will happen. In the meantime, they do what they must to survive the day. You’ll have some tough days, but they are temporary. You will eventually reach a point when sobriety is easy, when you can’t remember the last time you had a serious hankering for a drink. It is very normal in the early days to feel like you’ve resigned yourself to a life of misery by quitting alcohol. Those early days of sobriety may leave you feeling hopeless.

The sober events Club Söda NYC hosts, such as a “Kundalini Disco” or panel discussion on “psychedelics and sobriety”, are also firmly aligned with new age and wellness trends. Delage may have been a fabrication, but the fact that the campaign was so successful (it won 17 Lions at Cannes in 2017) had much to do with just how closely she resembled the real influencers whose cocktail-filled lives many follow and covet. One thing I’ve learned in my seven and a half years in recovery is that we all have fear, and we all overcome those fears, instead choosing recovery. What I know from this side of the fence is that life in recovery gives us everything that we had looking for at the bottom of a bottle. People you love will die, you will move, you may experience the end of a relationship, and you may even lose your job.

After Rehab: How To Stay Sober When You Come Home From Treatment

By working your program, you will discover who you are and what you can bring to your relationships, rather than what you can get from them. Recovering addicts have to re-learn healthy intimacy by overcoming feelings of anger, isolation, fear and distrust and gradually begin to trust themselves to be able to share their hopes, fears and dreams with others. The “rush” of a new relationship can be emotionally fear of being sober damaging and can derail even the most valiant recovery effort. In most cases, individuals who can’t refrain from having a relationship in the first year of recovery are missing an opportunity to address the core issues underlying their addictions. They may have other mental health issues, compulsions and cross-addictions that need to be addressed as well, before they can truly focus on a relationship.

• In the years since, I have gradually become better at processing highs and lows without the accompaniment of booze.
• (stigma alert) A reference to a urine test that is positive for substance use.
• An interdisciplinary field that integrates knowledge across disciplines to study the behavioral and social aspects of medical conditions and illness.

The good thing is that you don’t have to worry about that in the beginning. Maybe these people have been in your life since childhood, and you’ve all fallen into the same trap. Another common fear in sobriety is that you’ll wind up alone because no one will want to hang out with you. We are biologically wired for companionship, so this is a very real and instinctual fear to have.

Fear of change

The cognitive challenge is to encourage clients to measure their progress month-to-month rather than day-to-day or week-to-week. The tasks of this stage can be summarized as improved physical and emotional self-care. Clinical experience has shown that recovering individuals are often in a rush to skip past these tasks and get on with what they think are the real issues of recovery. Clients need to be reminded that lack of self-care is what got them here and that continued lack of self-care will lead back to relapse. There are many risks to recovery at this stage, including physical cravings, poor self-care, wanting to use just one more time, and struggling with whether one has an addiction.

The point however is that life for an addict or alcoholic has a lot more meaning than just being clean, and constantly fighting temptation over and over again. 4) People feel that they should be beyond the basics. They think it is almost embarrassing to talk about the basics of recovery. They are embarrassed to mention that they still have occasional cravings or that they are no longer sure if they had an addiction. Whatever fuels your passion or encourages your creativity will work.

Addiction Treatment Services

They also offer a safe space where individuals can share their challenges, victories, and insights and receive encouragement and advice from peers on a similar journey. Thriving in sobriety requires the development of effective coping mechanisms and the cultivation of healthy habits. These mechanisms can involve learning how to deal with stress, triggers, and cravings in ways that don’t involve substance use. This might include practicing mindfulness, engaging in regular physical activity, or picking up new hobbies. Healthy habits include maintaining a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, and prioritizing self-care. These practices help maintain sobriety and contribute to overall physical, emotional, and mental health.

If you believe that sobriety is going to be boring, then it’s likely that you’re scared of becoming sober. This is because you’re afraid of not having drugs or alcohol to help you escape from reality. Plenty of sober activities can be just as fun as drinking or using drugs. Many individuals facing drug and alcohol addiction have developed a lifestyle around their addiction. Everything they do – day in and day out – focuses on that next hit, drink, or high. When you take that away, even when you know it is for the best, you are opening the door to all types of risks.