Driving drunk with her kids in the car and getting pulled over and arrested, it was at that point that Amy Liz Harrison realized she just had to surrender herself to recovery.
If you’re someone struggling with alcoholism or someone you love and care about is going through it, just know that good things are waiting on the other side of this.
All it takes is a little spark of willingness – to heal, to embrace humanity, and to get better.
Amy’s Alcoholism and Recovery Story
Growing up, Amy felt she didn’t belong. She built a life and a foundation around faith so she was conditioned that she should be able to get through anything because she’s got God. And so, there was this thread of shame as an overarching theme in her life, thinking she didn’t have the right to feel that way.
Amy eventually found solace in drinking alcohol because it made her comfortable being in her own skin. She thought it was doing good things to her – or so she thought. Alcohol became her security blanket.
Finally, her husband took her to rehab without her knowing it was a rehab but she faked her way through it and found herself drinking again. The ultimate pivoting moment came when she was driving her kids home and she got pulled over and arrested for a DUI.
The Mental Gymnastics
For many people struggling with addiction, there’s this mental gymnastics that’s happening where you’re in denial that you have a problem.
Whether it’s ego or fear at work, you will usually find yourself in a space where you don’t want to look at yourself and recognize the problem. And you try to fool yourself that you’ve got this, when deep inside you know you can’t.
Worse, is when you try to also convince your loved ones and other people that you’re struggling because it entails much effort to do that.
In Amy’s case, she faked her way through rehab and before she understood the nature of the disease, she even had no empathy for any of these addiction and recovery stories.
The Keys to Recovery
A lot of people struggling with addiction have these false assumptions about recovery. But once they actually go through it, they realize all the things they used to think about were just the complete opposite.
It’s therefore important to have that strong support network who can hold space for you, especially early on. Lastly, you’ve got to learn to embrace humanity and be okay with your feelings. To walk through those feelings and to process them is way better than trying to numb them out.
If you want to learn more about Amy’s story of alcoholism and recovery, check out https://theaddictedmind.com/197