Addiction Thinking Paints The Past With Rosy Colors
Do you sometimes miss your drinking? Do you wonder if you really needed to get sober, or if it was just your relatives being worry warts? What was the harm anyway if you got drunk now and then? Stop right there – don’t let another one of those rosy thoughts go by. Do you know what happens when you let your mind think like that? It’s addiction thinking sneaking up on you again.
Remember The Good Times Forget The Bad
Addiction thinking likes to make light of addiction, make it seem totally justifiable and basically harmless. What a disaster if you were to fall for such a clever argument in your own mind. Sometimes, nostalgia has a way of making parts of the past seem rosier than it really was. In some ways, that is a good thing.
If you really had a good father in your life, you would much rather focus on positive memories than of the times he got mad at you. And it’s probably a good thing mothers don’t always remember the gory details of delivering their babies, or most women may not want to ever do it again. But for a recovering addict, a rosy colored picture of their addiction past can be toxic.
Slippery Slope Of Alcohol Addiction Thinking
Remember the DUI, the embarassing incident when you fell down the stairs and almost broke your leg, the blow-up arguments at family holiday gatherings, the exile from your grandmother because she just couldn’t deal with your lies anymore? What if you saw the DUI as someone else’s fault, and really not a big deal? What if you blamed someone else for tripping you down the stairs? What if you said everyone at the family gatherings picked on you, and it had nothing to do with your drinking? What if you said you really weren’t all that close to your grandma anyway? You really enjoyed drinking, hanging out with your buddies all night, having few cares in the world most of the time – and now you aren’t sure why you ever gave it up.
Do you see the slippery slope you get on when you see the past in that rosy sort of way? Do you see how the evidence of family destruction, legal problems, and health risks get swept under the rug because your memories are being manipulated by your addiction thinking? You may become tempted to start drinking and not even realize the pit you are about to fall into.
Alcohol Rehab Can Get Your Thinking Back On Track
If you find yourself being nostalgic about your drinking days, you may need to find an alcohol treatment center soon. Perhaps you may only need some stronger aftercare support rather than full-fledged alcohol rehab. Or, if you have already started drinking again after feeling like your sobriety wasn’t that important, you may need to consider true alcohol rehab. Relapse is a normal part of addiction recovery, but you don’t have to fall for the lies every time they crop up. You can learn to spot these things before they steer you in the wrong direction. Call an alcohol treatment center near you for more support.
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