Recovering in the summer can feel like a blessing and a burden. There’s little doubt you’re grateful- you’ve finally put an end to the pain, suffering, and destruction that addiction brings on an ever increasing basis. With your most recent using days not far behind you, the burden of the fear of missing out might feel incredibly real. Summer can be full of temptation to relapse and provides feeding ground for addiction’s favorite hunts for justification and rationalization. You might find yourself in an argument of conviction and convincing about why you could, should, and would relapse this summer. Summer is only a couple of months. You’ll control your drinking and drug use better this time. After summer, you’ll go back to treatment. Everyone is having more fun than you are. Everyone must be talking about how sad it is you are in “rehab” for addiction while everyone else can still be “normal” and “have fun” drinking and using drugs. You feel the shame and guilt of doing something positive for your life instead of feeling the confidence and pride of doing something positive for your life. As a result, you choose to do one of the riskiest things you can in recovery: relapse.

There is one small problem with relapse that is tragically overlooked or ignored by the men who choose to participate in it. Relapse is never a guaranteed roundtrip ticket. Drugs can be laced. Drugs can be potent. The body is weakened by detox and recovery and reacts differently to drugs. After just one use, the body craves its last amount of mind altering substances- the very high amount which had been developed by tolerance over a period of time, tolerance which was created when the body was regularly full of drugs and alcohol. After even just a few weeks or a month sober, your body has changed dramatically, putting you at a high risk for overdose. The risk of relapse is not just a one way ticket to being back in the cycle of addiction. You may want to live summer under the influence one more time before getting sober. Take into full consideration the reality: one more summer in addiction could be your last summer in addiction, forever. One more can instantaneously translate to no more, never again, forever.

You know what you did this summer. If you chose to relapse, the time is now to speak up. Summer has only just begun and there is time to reach out for help, admit your regression, and get back on track in recovery as quickly as possible.

Men are finding freedom from addiction by transforming their lives from the inside out at Tree House Recovery in Portland, Oregon. By creating sustainable change, men can create a sustainable recovery for life. For information on our innovative approach to men’s addiction treatment, call (503) 850-2474 today.