When you overcome addiction and get on the road to recovery, you look forward to a sober future. However, to continue your forward progress requires you to understand your relationship with alcohol addiction. Knowing this helps you identify why you once relied on substances so you are able to understand your impulses and triggers. The more time you get away from substance use, the stronger and more resilient you become in times of challenge.
Not everybody will understand your relationship with alcohol and what you have experienced to remain sober. Sometimes a question as simple as, “Why don’t you drink?” could feel nearly impossible to answer. You might feel you owe this person an explanation. Your recovery is your story; therefore, when you decide to get sober, not only will your life change, but so will your relationships. Such changes can also contribute to why it feels impossible to answer the “Why don’t you drink?” question. Take a look at ways to help you understand your relationship with addiction and sobriety and why your opinion regarding why you don’t drink is the only opinion that should matter.
Some Relationships End After Overcoming Alcohol Addiction
Recovery is about rebuilding healthy relationships. After years spent regularly partaking in substances, it is likely that most of your friends partake in them as well. You might have even gravitated toward people who support your addiction. However, when you understand your relationship with substances and your sobriety, you will discover that keeping these friends around is not the best option for your recovery.
When you share that you no longer drink, some of your friends might respond negatively as if you have just thrown a wrench in their choice to continue to use. In such situations, your recovery tools will come in handy. While recovery is about rebuilding relationships, it is also about ending relationships that don’t support your recovery. Therefore, you do not need to feel a sense of urgency or responsibility to provide them the answers they want to hear. Trying to can make answering “Why don’t you drink?” hard. Instead, ending these relationships is the better option for moving forward in your recovery.
You will Discover New Things About Yourself After Overcoming Addiction
When your addiction is in the driver’s seat, attaining the next drink or drug becomes your sole motivation. However, recovery allows you opportunities to reunite and discover activities that you are passionate about doing. It also helps you realize certain personality traits that you might not know existed before becoming sober. For example, you might consider yourself a people-person who loves social gatherings; however, once you eliminate the drink or drug, you might find that it is not the atmosphere but the substance that has you believing you love to be around people.
When you get in touch with the person you are when sober; you might discover you are more of an introvert that enjoys practicing art and meditating. Large party atmospheres might even seem overwhelming. Ultimately, sobriety helps you make healthier connections with yourself and others. Therefore, when you create a network of people that share your interests and don’t need drinking to be the focal point, you might not feel as uncomfortable answering “Why you don’t drink,” because you will know that many others choose not to drink, too.
You Are an Example of Sobriety After Overcoming Addiction
You are a model of sobriety living in a society that often perceives not drinking as abnormal. Therefore, it might be inevitable that at some point, you will find yourself in a situation where someone offers you a drink. Friends of friends or strangers at family gatherings who don’t truly know you will likely assume you drink and become curious as to why you don’t. You might feel the return of the stress to answer the question in a way that satisfies them. It is crucial to understand that you do not owe this person anything and decline to answer. Additionally, your answer does not need to make sense to them if it makes sense to you. For example, you can be direct without getting personal and simply tell them you don’t drink.
However, it varies based on the situation. Sometimes people press because they are alluding to their struggles with alcohol or substances. Therefore, you could decide to discuss why you don’t drink and how you found help. It just depends on how comfortable you are with providing a personal experience. However, if you don’t want to discuss it, you can change the subject or walk away. You have that freedom of choice.
Is the Question “Why Don’t You Drink?” Impossible to Answer?
“Why don’t you drink?” might feel like an impossible question to answer, but maybe it’s because there is no sure way to answer it. Your answer depends on your experiences, where you are when asked and how comfortable you are with providing an answer. It is important to remember that you do not have to give yourself up to make other people comfortable.
Recovery is about establishing boundaries with yourself and with others. It is also about gaining confidence, resiliency and support from others who put your recovery first. When you build this kind of network around your recovery, you will understand that you are never alone in your pursuit of lasting sobriety.
At New Hope Ranch, just outside Austin in Manor, we help individuals overcome addiction by learning how to manage and handle challenges that they will inevitably encounter when they get back to their everyday life. We accomplish this by providing conventional and holistic approaches to care so that you have the best resources and opportunities to find what works best for you. We also provide resources to finding 12-step programs in Texas. While the road to recovery has its challenges, the only decision you need to make on a daily basis is to stay sober. If you or a loved one is currently struggling with addiction, then the time to get help is now. Learn more by calling (737) 600-8565.