“My head is like a bad neighborhood. I shouldn’t go in there alone.” - heard at a 12-step meeting.
A client in early recovery spoke of having difficulty finding something to do with his spare time. He'd never been clean and sober for more than a few months. Now that he’d been clean for a while, he found himself feeling aimless and bored. He was spending a lot of time in his head, reminiscing about the past.
As always, my suggestion was that he get busy doing service work. Even though he hadn't been sober for long he could help newcomers. Someone with only a few hours clean needs support. And a lot of times it's not the quality of the support - it's the idea that we’re reaching out to another suffering human being.
Most newcomers are confused and feel alone. Help from another addict or alcoholic -someone who's been there - makes a difference. The quality of the help means little; the idea that we’re there means everything.
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