Should you seek sobriety or be sought for sobriety?

Alcoholism and drug addiction are powerful forces. They consume an entire being and relentlessly prevent right thinking and logic. Addiction is dependence gone wild.

We are dependent on running water, but if the water system fails us for a period of time, we will figure out ways to hydrate and bathe. Likewise if our dependency on electricity gets interrupted… we will do other activities by generator or candle light.

But if the booze or the drugs are taken away, or even threatened to be removed, the wrath and drive of the addict will become very evident.

For well over a century now, the world has taken many steps to eradicate addiction, and look where we are today. Alcoholism and drug abuse are at mega-epidemic levels, with still no clear resolve in sight.

So this raises a valid question. Can external physical forces control addiction and alcoholism?

My answer would be: On occasion, yes.

Courts have been modestly successful, as has the medical world. My experience has proven that of all external physical forces, the family intervention has the best chance at affecting change, followed by employer intervention. But even those forces do not approach perfection.

Overall, the addict who is hunted does not get sober and remain sober.

Now lets look at the hunter…

At some point, the alcoholic or drug addict can see the obvious, but all too often the thought is dismissed behind a feeling of that change as being impossible to accomplish. This is the strength of addiction. But, through the cloak of addiction, there exists the opportunity to see that a change is necessary.

 When this opportunity arises, the alcoholics or drug addicts who can pull themselves together enough to walk, crawl or call for help can turn the tide on addiction in their lives. Some internal force begins to work for them. Once that effort is made, the chances for real drive and clarity can, for a while, outweigh the controlling forces of addiction. The addict or alcoholic becomes the hunter of recovery.

What actually triggers this “window of opportunity” for addicts?

First, a good “bottom“, which is generally based on loss. Lost jobs, lost money, lost relationships, etc. serve to show that life is going bad.

Pressure from family, employers, friends and the legal system can raise awareness that a bottom is occurring. These interventions can be a powerful force, as they can cause the motivation for immediate change, or set the thought processes in motion for a future decision.

Ya Gotta Wanna!

This is the cry from those who understand that the best success comes from voluntary hunting for the treatment for drug addiction and alcoholism. All service providers, including the 12-step programs, fair much better when a person shows up voluntarily and with some level of determination to beat his or her respective addiction.

All external pressures, from family intervention to employer ultimatums, greatly aid the addict or alcoholic to become ready and willing to change. They serve to sort of bend the mind of the addict towards recognition of the dilemma, and hopefully, desire for treatment and the all-necessary action.

But nothing on earth beats the power of the hunter.

Please share this article below to help someone today. Thank you, Dave.

About the Author: 

Dave Innis, CRC, is an independent certified recovery sober coach and companion. He works with recovering alcoholics and addicts globally, either in person, via Skype sessions, phone or email. Dave Innis began as a counselor in late 1994 and has worked in the field both in the southwest and eastern US. Dave operates in the US as well as globally, and lives in Chicopee, Ma. Dave will work with individuals, families, employers or recovery agencies upon request.