30 DAY SELF HELP workshop - Day 20- Courage

Addiction & Recovery Substance Abuse
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Day 20

Courage

Courage is what is required to face our fears.

Since we are traveling now in a new direction, I found for myself that I had on occasion , fear. Fear of the unknown.

Fear often stops us from making necessary changes in our lives.

The fear of the unknown I think it what this is.

Being new, at a time we may be afraid, for no other reason that because what we are facing is new. We do not know what will happen and we sometimes become fearful of the new.

What we do at these times is find some Courage and use it.

Fear we should not allow to be the reason that we do not do something.

In my life, every time I was fearful of something it turned out to be erroneous.
The worst part about it was the time I spent thinking about it, (the event or what have you that scared me) because when I actually went to go do it, none of the things that I feared even occurred.

I learned this and then applied that lesson to the next time I was fearful.

I guess it was Winston Churchill whom said "There is nothing to fear but fear itself"

and that is true.

Conquering our fears by facing them and use courage to conquer our fears.

Then the next time we are doing something new, we simply are not afraid any longer.

If we have been using and abusing drugs for a long time when we decide to quit and go about quitting , everything is new and sometimes we may be afraid of this.

Afraid maybe that we cannot handle it or what have you.

Don't let fear be the reason you do not do something you want to do.

Instead find courage and use it.

Here are some quotes to help with FEAR and to help find COURAGE:

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith. ~Mary Manin Morrissey

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. ~Marie Curie

Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop. ~Usman B. Asif

Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Panic at the thought of doing a thing is a challenge to do it. ~Henry S. Haskins

The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety. ~Henry Louis Mencken

There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear. ~George S. Patton

Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them. ~Brendan Francis

There is much in the world to make us afraid. There is much more in our faith to make us unafraid. ~Frederick W. Cropp

There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them. ~Andre Gide

Fear is faith that it won't work out. ~Sister Mary Tricky

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P.S. on this fear business on fighting cocaine

i remember being afraid of something NEW I had to do
different than what I did before

at that time, the REAL FEAR should have been in NOT CHANGING, in not changing is where the BAD STUFF WOULD INEVITABLY HAPPEN TO ME.
not in changing.

And I remember being "afraid" of the new the unknown, and said well hell, what I should be afraid of is NOT changing, not changing.......

Knowing what we know about cocaine and crack there is nothing to fear to forge ahead into unknown......and then I found by doing so that there really was not anything TO be afraid of..

Fear , Doubt, Confusion - enemy weapons
we use
Courage, Faith, Clarity as our weapons to defeat these as we go..

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yes, i guess we can use fear to help guide us
and to protect us, sometimes fear can be good for that
but if we have been using cocaine and crack cocaine and living that life and we are afraid in our new life, our new steps the unknown of our future of leaving that behind, we can then see clearly that is not a time that fear is serving us.
because in all truth what we should be fearing is staying that way , not the changes we are making...

so to clarify : we can use fear to help guide us in our lives,
but when fighting this battle, fear of unknown is something we will overcome and find courage to face the unknown and continue going forward!!!

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Hi Pegasus, I am glad you had this post it helped me tonight. I was sitting outside with some sober friends I have met, but the bldgs I live are high drug traffic, but I never used here, always in my old neighborhood, so for a couple of times I have seen this man in a car staring at me when he drives through the parking circle in front of bldg when I am out with my dog, and I just thought he was some perv, etc...But today it hit me, he was dropping a girl off and was looking at me from his car, it turns out it is an old dealer I met a few times!! ! I just about died with the realization, but kept on in the conversation I was having with the ppl outside, but was shaking inside and sick to my stomach.
It is awful when you get clean, and the past seems gone but something or someone brings it back in your face, he didn't say anything and drove away but just knowing who it was, stressed me right out! I don't have this person's number and honestly, I did have the thought to get it, but stayed put, God I hate when I get reflections of my past, it disgusts me, how messed up I was.!!! Anyway, just had to vent thanks:)

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I'm glad you posted Angela
It is a good tool to use to fight against this thing
I dont' think it is unusual at all for this stuff to come up still for it

I hated that too, I hated being bugged by "it" after I had firmly decided to put it down.
How rude!

Rude too are the dealers! some of them are darn pushy!

Getting that thought to use, is because these memories and events are triggers and it takes time for all of the pshychological effects to go away.

I hated that feeling inside the stomach feeling.
That will go away and eventually so will the double talk.

Be careful!! Good that you are keeping good company, please be careful and remember that it is still trying to work on you to get you to use.

You did good Angela!! and also you are remembering the truth of how horrible it is, that will keep you planted in truth will keep you safe.

Yes it sucks but the main thing is you stayed clean you did not fall.
That is what is important and that is what you have to keep doing every time it hits you or you are minding your own beeswax and boom! there it is..

I am glad you are keeping safe company. It is very important to rid the people you used with too.

Good to see you again Angela! and again, I'm very glad you posted! good to vent this stuff, expose it and then I think it's easier, it cannot sit in the back of your mind trying to work on you.

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oh btw Angela, I lived in a brutal high drug area when I quit
so you CAN do it regardless, (though I'm glad you are out of your using area)
but I remember having to
say NO a lot!

a helluva lot
people from that time may see you , approach you or offer
be prepared to say NO
and do not stick around for any conversation , just NO and LEAVE.
immediate
say a prayer too to help thwart it off
I used to say prayers to keep me safe and cast off the demon!
esp. when I saw dealers / users

so please Stay Safe!!
and stay prepared!! to say NO and get the heck out of dodge!

too soon to test any waters by being around too much weirdness.

Glad you have some sober friends!

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I think I am becoming a little less afraid of change as I watch my daughters deal with change so gracefully.

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that' s great Tools
you know I sometimes think when I am afraid of change, hell i should not be afraid of change, change is good, change is what this life consists of
i should rather be afraid of not changing..

I guess it is all in how we look at it..
i look forward to the unknown instead of fear it , (most of the time)