Addiction doesn’t mean you are flawless. This is common knowledge. If you were without flaw there would be no addiction. Addiction is about overcoming obstacles and learning that you aren’t perfect and while you may be flawed you are still a person with worth capable of good things. This is why it is difficult for people to overcome the hurt and guilt of having a relapse.
If you are an addict devoting their life to staying clean, there is a dark cloud that looms over you as you navigate through your addiction. You don’t want to relapse but you know it’s a possibility. So keeping some things in mind will help you.
You are human. The disease of addiction is more powerful than anything you have ever faced and had it been easy to defeat in the first place you would have never been addicted. It can make you weak and overtake your life but that doesn’t mean there is any reason why you should feel like a failure because you have one moment of weakness. Instead of counting yourself a failure you should be looking at all the reasons why you are anything but a failure. Look at all the moments where you will and strength were big enough to keep you on the straight and narrow.
If you are unfortunate enough to have a relapse then you should be upfront with those around you that it happened. You are no longer in the business of hiding your weakness from those around you. You should be upfront and honest. No one will fault you for having a weak day. They will applaud your honesty.
Get yourself to a meeting or meet with a sponsor or counselor. These people are there just for situations where you couldn’t help yourself. Let them do their job. They will meet with you wherever you need to go and they will be more than willing to help you. You addiction is a life-long battle. Do not gets discouraged by a bump in the road. After all, you are only human.
