You are setting to share the news that you intend to break free of all the lies and hurt. Keeping it clean and simple is a good way to start your letter. When you arrange these thoughts on paper, it can help you make room for all these conflicting thoughts. It can also help with symptoms like cravings and even drinking dreams, as a letter writing helps process the subconscious elements driving these reactions when you get sober. As you make progress, keep updating your letter or write new ones.
Admitting your powerlessness over an addiction can give you a choice now.
You made me believe I needed you to cope, to survive. I realize the extent of the harm you’ve done. I never in Halfway house a million years thought I’d be in this position. I deserve to live free from your grip, and I am determined to find joy and peace without you. I am excited to rebuild the lives of myself and my kids and discover who I am without you.
How to Write An Impact Letter: A Step Toward Recovery
- You’ve been a part of my world for ten years now.
- You threatened me with illness, depression, and anxiety.
- The information on this website should not be taken as medical advice for any individual case or situation.
Remind yourself that you can do this and that drugs and alcohol do not need to control your life. Be that supportive voice you may need to hear at a future date. These same words may stop you from relapsing later on. When you make the decision to get clean, you have to be one hundred percent comfortable with your decision.
- What can you say on paper that you cannot say out loud?
- Letter writing also helps you process and fully understand your experiences.
- Instead, you can start to focus on your future in recovery.
- Through writing this goodbye letter, patients often identify potential triggers for relapses.
- Remember, you have all it takes to be better.
Learning Center
I was violently sick, and, in a panic, I searched online to see if I was experiencing some kind of poisoning. I came across a blog on an addiction website that told me I had to get immediate medical attention. Thank God I called the number on the blog and got help. Recognizing those failures wasn’t enough though, my denial ran much deeper. I’d tell myself that my stress validated my drug use.
Learn to live a Sober, Vibrant & Substance-Free Life
I gathered up all the pain, trauma, and hopelessness and let it all out through this letter. Addiction was the hardest relationship that I ever left behind, but it was the greatest thing I ever did. Writing a goodbye letter is proof of deciding to reflect on where it started going downhill, your mistakes, what you have learned, and how you plan to improve. Writing also helps identify your progress, comparing the debut of your recovery journey and its peak. It is a perfect way to acknowledge that being self-aware and vulnerable enough to seek help was an upstanding move. If you write your letter as part of an addiction treatment group or in a counseling session, you may be able to share it with others.
Acknowledge the Relationship and the Perceived Happy Moments
Writing goodbye letters does not have to letter to addiction stop at the end of your addiction treatment. It can be a continued practice that you hold on to, keying in the changes you notice after addiction. There may be little to no information on writing a goodbye letter and its benefits to your recovery process. You may want to write one, but you are unsure how. We not only give you the therapeutic guidance you need, but we also provide exceptional services for addiction treatment. There’s no such thing as a “right” or “wrong” way to write a goodbye letter to addiction.
Feel free to update your letter or write new ones as your life changes. Ending your relationship with addiction isn’t easy, but it will be the best choice you ever made. If you are struggling to get started, we are here. Our Texas detox center helps people begin their journey to lifelong recovery. Patients in need of Heartland drug treatment can access a variety of programs that address addictions to different substances, including alcohol.
Writing a Goodbye Letter to Alcohol: Example and Worksheet
Instead, use the conclusion of your letter to reaffirm your love, summarize your commitment and explain the importance of treatment. In the introduction of a letter, state who you are and your relationship to the subject of an intervention. Describe the person in your own words that relate to how you view them — both before and after addiction — as well as what your relationship means. When it appears there is no resolution in sight, an intervention may seem like the only possible opportunity to communicate the real nature of a situation. They understand the dangers and why they have to get off the addictive substance. They’ve made a contract with themselves to break up with the addictive substance.