The Seeds of Addiction
The road to addiction is very mysterious and complicated. This is because addicts destroy their lives with the same elements that are available to everyone else in a particular community.
Dysfunctional behavior early in life is a sign that someone may develop an addiction to some type of substance. The definition of addiction states the desire for a substance provides a pleasurable high, both physically and psychologically. These same pleasures are available in common day to day human interaction. But when a person has not received adequate affection in their up brining, and they do not develop the life skills to produce these pleasures from others, substances such as alcohol and drugs become a convenient alternative.
What is Sobriety?
Sobriety is described as a state of being unimpaired by alcohol or drugs. There are legal specifications for sobriety throughout society. These are in place largely as a measure of accountability when consuming mind impairing substances among others within a community.
However, clinical sobriety in relation to addiction has very little relevance. Each person has a different tolerance to certain substances. Even when tested, two people can maintain different blood alcohol levels despite consuming a similar amount over the same period of time. Also, each person’s behavior is rooted deeply in their own life experiences. Addictive qualities such as anger, depression and lack of focus may be evident in one person. Someone else can be a heavy drinker and remain functional within society… holding a job and maintaining a healthy social life throughout.
Ultimately, each person has to make the decision about whether or not consuming substances is making an impact on their lives.
How do we Recover?
Unfortunately, many addicts never reach the realm of recovery, which is where true rehabilitation begins. They spend years developing the process by which to serve their destructive habits. Recovering means that another process must take its place.
Sobriety has become a catch phrase in the world of substance abuse. However, being sober only means abstaining from using substances. It is not a process that leads to any sort of personal development. This is why remaining sober becomes so difficult for many who desire to change their lives.
The irony is, many develop an addictive, abusive life pattern because they were raised in an unhealthy process as children to begin with. Once they give up the substances, they are back to where it all started.
Conclusion
Finding healthy, productive alternatives to satisfy the need for pleasure is the key to having a successful recovery from alcohol and other additive substances. These alternatives are easy to access and cost practically nothing. Attitude and perspective are all that is needed to generate a positive outlook on life, while others with similar circumstances suffer in depression and despair.
