Recovery has it’s challenges at any age, but being young and at a pivotal crossroads of where your life will lead, recovery can be a confusing and scary process. Being a teenager presents enough challenges without the added burden of maintaining sobriety
Here are some of the challenges and rewards one may experience from sobriety and recovery:
CHALLENGES
1. Thinking you are still young enough to change and not end up in a bad place again.
No, you can’t go have a drink because you “learned your lesson” and won’t let it get out of hand.
Remember how long it took you to get sober and how miserable you were as an addict.
2. Seeing others relapse.
Seeing friends and peers go back to their old habits and feeling like the cycle will never end.
Not allowing their poor decisions to affect your sobriety.
3. Feeling like you missed out on a normal adolescence.
Throwing yourself a pity party may be tempting, you were forced to make a life changing decision for the better at a very young age.
You won’t get to take shots on your 21st birthday or pregame before parties.
But if you recall how awful you felt when you couldn’t control yourself after a long night of drinking, the interest in all these minor milestones seems petty.
4. If in college, A) making sober friends or B) being okay without drinking with alcohol present.
The amount of sober college students is, low , if not non-existent.
There may be a few people here and their who don’t drink because they don’t like to or just never have, not because they had an addiction problem.
Remaining open about your recovery is the best approach and being the designated driver can make you a valuable asset.
5. How to answer “you’re so young, don’t you think you’ll drink ever again?”
There is no right way to answer this, you can’t predict your future. You may very well learn how to manage your addiction as an adult and be able to have an occasional glass of wine.
But the decision is yours, if you know going back to drinking, even in moderation will lead to poor life choices, then the answer should be simply ”no”.
REWARDS
1. Fellowship.
You can meet amazing people simply by choosing a sober lifestyle.
There are conferences and special meetings just for your age group and it can make the recovery process a lot more fun and exciting.
You’ll feel less alone and you won’t be so intimidated by the road ahead as a sober adult.
2. Damaging yourself less.
Getting sober younger means you had less time to ruin things like your health, relationships and even material items.
You may have damaged all those things already, but probably not to a point where they would never go back to normal. You have the advantage of time on your side.
3. Finding yourself sooner
You may not have had a desire to do anything besides drink during your addiction, leaving out the option to get in touch with what inspires you or fuels you.
You’ll not only discover what you love and what you have a talent for but also that you’re way better at these things than you would have ever been while still using.
4. Saving your money.
Alcohol is nothing if not expensive and most young people aren’t swimming in money.
Even if you chose cheaper options, your bank account would feel the burn of that cheap vodka as much as you did.
Now you can spend your hard earned money on things that matter.
5. Placing yourself first.
Ultimately, drinking feels like a selfish decision to indulge and not care, which may sound like placing yourself first. But in reality, who is really suffering? You. The permanent damage to your body and mind, relationships, and overall health take away from your quality of life.
Owning your mistakes and making apologies is more valuable to your personal growth than another night of oblivion.
For the full article on The Mighty click HERE
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