Letting It Go

Protection Becomes the Problem

Not processing difficult situations to release frozen energy can cause later problems. Almost every addiction, whether it is to alcohol, drugs, food or even work started as a way to help you feel better when you had an uncomfortable experience. The experience could have been the stress of living in a home where you witnessed emotional or physical violence and drinking alcohol or using drugs helped you relax. Or you could have learned to distract yourself from the stress with work. Or perhaps when you were small, each time you experienced difficulty you were consoled with cookies and you learned that food was the way to feel better. The problem in each case is that it takes more and more of the pain relieving substance to produce the same amount of relief and you then need the substance just to feel normal. Healing from an addiction is a complicated process. Often releasing your energy from the original problem reduces the pressure to use the substance to try to feel better.