Detoxification

When you want to get clean from drugs, it can be hard on a lot of different levels. First off, you have to admit that you have a problem, and this requires a certain level of accountability. Secondly, you have to choose to go into a different life path than the one that has led to addiction. Third, staying on that path for any length of time can be seriously challenging.

Making the Choice to Start

Life is a lot easier when you are drunk or high. There is little to no accountability, little to no responsibility, and life just happens moment to moment. Of course, there are also tons of downsides, such as the prospect of doing, going to prison, accidentally hurting someone while under the influence and not in control.

Emotionally, no one needs to say how much being addicted to something bites. People who care start to distance themselves, to the point where it seems like they do not trust you anymore.  People you would not really want to spend time with suddenly hang around you more and more. Ultimately, it is easy to start acting like a person you do not even like.

Making the choice to start, while it might seem to be easy, is really hard. It is the first step to what can be a real change of life. Of course, this change has a long way to go, and this is why some groups use 12 step programs.

The Part That Physically Sucks

When you go into a place for Detoxification, there are a lot of things that happen. Your body starts to go through changes, as the stuff works its way out of your system. In some cases, this may only take a day or so. In other cases, it can take weeks, and these are not pleasant weeks. The pain of getting off of most kinds of junk is not just psychologically jarring but can make you feel like you are dying.

One part where the physical and the psychological combine is in your perceptions of the world. The world itself looks and feels different when you are under a chemical influence. If you have been under the influence for most of your waking hours for years at a time, it can start to feel as if you are in a scary new world.

Moving on and Getting Better

There is no real cure for addiction. The genetic tendency to be an addict is there at birth, or it is not. There are some people who do not have addictions at all – and lucky them. For everyone else, being in recovery is a lifelong process.

The most important part of being clean for the rest of your life is introspection. You need to identify why you use and make peace with that. It does not really matter what happened years ago, but a lot of anxiety comes from unresolved childhood conflicts. Accepting what is, as well as what you feel moment to moment, is a powerful step in your recovery process.