Anxiety is one of the more common human experiences, especially today in what is a particularly stressful time of the modern era. Our propensity to anxiety is a matter of both nature versus nurture as human beings on planet earth. Over thousands upon thousands of years, our world has modernized and changed, bringing with it new responsibilities to the existence of human life and with new responsibilities new anxieties. Part of our anxiety is nurtured- the way the world has influenced us has caused us to become more anxious.
However, anxiety is also part of the human condition, as well as the human existence. The very ability to experience anxiety is the result of those thousands of years and the evolution which has taken place among them. Anxiety is the result of certain stress hormones acting out upon each other and causing a build up of fear. Fear and our response to fear is part of our survival nature and our fight or flight response. When we feel anxious about a school test, for example, we’re having the very same response we might have if we were being chased by a lion in the desert. The mechanism of stimulus, affect, and reaction, are all the same.
Experiencing anxiety in recovery is completely normal. After years of our body chemically relying on drugs and alcohol, we are trying to live sober for the first time. We don’t know how to live without drugs and alcohol, which means we don’t know how to respond to the way we are affected by all the stimuli of life without drugs and alcohol. A soldier who walks into a battlefield without an ounce of armor or a single weapon for his defense might feel some anxiety. His stress hormones might start pumping, his mind might run wild from morning to night, and he may not be able to put a single rational thought together for himself. His situation in life makes anxiety make sense. Anxiety in the first few years of recovery for men also make sense.
Treatment and recovery give us the protection we need against anxiety and anxious thoughts, empowering us to deal with all that life has to give us and walking through our fear every step of the way.
Tree House Recovery of Orange County, California is a premier men’s addiction treatment facility that uses eight different modalities to help our men become the best versions of themselves they can be. We teach our men that every day of their journey is something to celebrate, and that recovery isn’t a sprint– it’s a marathon. By showing our men how to celebrate each day’s victories, we show them that self love isn’t about what we have or haven’t done. It’s about getting a little closer to where we want to be. To get started with Tree House Recovery, call us today at (503) 850-2474
