Why We Have a Fear of Being Sober
Being afraid to quit drinking is not something unnatural. Drinking is a legitimate coping mechanism, even if it’s not very healthy. This fear is also not unconquerable, and the first step in stopping the drinking addiction is getting rid of your sobriety fears.
Why do people drink?
Why do I hate being sober? That’s the first question you have to ask yourself. Why is drinking so appealing, and why losing it makes you uneasy and afraid?
Well, there are several reasons:
- Drinking is a primary coping mechanism for many people. Alcohol makes you forget about your problems, it relieves stress and lets you focus on the simpler aspects of life.
- Drinking is often fun. Not only consuming alcohol feels interesting and alleviating, but you become much less restrained under its influence. As a result, you get to experience things you wouldn’t do otherwise.
- Drinking is often very social. You get together with your friends and colleagues in order to gulp some liquor, and it’s frankly very bonding. For many people, it’s an essential part of friendship.
So, based on these reasons, let’s formulate several sorts of fear of sobriety. It’s crucial to get to know your enemy before defeating your fears and remember why you decided to drink in the first place. Moreover, you should understand exactly what holds you back in order to move forward in your life.
Take back control of your life and start on the road to recovery now.
Being alone with your problems
People who learned to deal with stress by drinking don’t often have any other means of coping with it outside of hitting the bars. Losing your only steam outlet means you’ll be alone with whatever pains you have. That’s one of the primary reasons people decide not to become sober. Although they often feel it, but do not really realize it.
People who do realize this tiny problem need to find other means of alleviating stress. The more into drinking you are, the more difficult the search may become – especially if this addiction possesses you completely and leaves no room for other passions.
Well, to battle the addiction in such cases, you need to:
- Remember what you are or were passionate about and let this passion consume you instead. It might be something that lets forget about both stress and drinking for a long time (exciting activities, happy experiences, etc.)
- Find support from someone you care about. Ask for help to deal with your more minor issues and find reassurance that you can, in fact, overcome anything. A lack of support is generally a sure way into depression, self-loathing, and worsening of your addiction.
Physiological reasons
It’s no surprise that alcohol addiction is actually a chemical one. Your brain releases the hormones that make you content whenever alcohol touches its cells. By drinking, you actually establish this connection and condition yourself into craving more alcohol.
Alcohol stimulates your brain into being content and then the brain stimulates you into drinking more. That’s what addiction is from the chemical point of view, of course, terribly oversimplified.
From the drinker’s point of view, losing alcohol means being less content and less happy. It’s as if liquor is a magic wand that returns you to the world of happiness, and there are no other means of going there. The fear of sobriety here is simply the fear of not being as happy after rehabilitation.
It’s not true, though, and you can overcome it in time by gradually getting rid of alcohol and replacing it with other dopamine-releasing substances and activities.
Losing your favorite hobby
Some people drink not because they want to forget the problems or because they are terribly addicted. Many drinkers simply like the taste of alcohol and the experience of drinking it – they like the alcohol itself, even if it’s harmful to them.
It’s actually not unreasonable to like alcohol. We have developed all sorts of funny liquids to trigger our brains and change our perception of the world. Some of the liquors are plain tasty. So, why would you lose such an enjoyable part of your life, if there is nothing like it out there? Well, there is.
A lot of drinkers don’t even consume a lot of alcohol (or think they don’t), they consume it in small quantities simply to taste it. Even so, there are a lot of reasons why you might want to quit doing it. The fear of sobriety in such cases is simply the fear of losing a very enjoyable hobby, which is just childish.
As usual, you need to replace this unhealthy hobby with something safe. Of course, nothing will give you the funny feeling as alcohol does, but if you want to stop drinking, you’ll have to find other hobbies.
Losing touch with your friends
A lot of folks start to drink at a young age to impress their friends or bond with them over a glass of wine. Afterward, it may become increasingly difficult to stop drinking in the company. What if you disappoint them? This problem is relevant even for older people – for some, drinking alcohol might even be the only sociable activity.
It all depends on the magnitude of one’s friends’ drinking issues. If it’s an essential part of the company, it may be harder to stop out of the fear of falling out. However, except for the bonding experience, it’s all rubbish. When it comes to bonding, there are other means to experience kinship with your friends – a myriad of ways besides alcohol.
This can be a difficult journey, but you don’t have to go it alone. Let us be your guide and provide you the environment needed to regain control of your life and begin the path to recovery.
Losing your adventures
Alcohol does provide interesting experiences for people who consume it. It makes you feel at ease, gives you more courage and bravery. It’s always fun to get wasted and remember the day after just how crazy you and your friends have been during the night.
Losing these great experiences is a bit sad, but you should remember they aren’t very healthy. Sobriety is not just the loss of alcohol, but also the clearness of mind and knowing what you’re doing. Knowing what you’re doing at all times is the key to success and prosperity. So, it’s very important to quit these adventures sooner than later.
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