Dallas Bragg, a recovery coach for gay men, explains why stopping crystal meth leaves people miserable. Emotional sobriety, a concept from Bill W., means processing the trauma and emotions underneath addiction, not just abstaining. Without that inner work, quitting offers little real improvement.
You stopped doing meth, but you're still miserable. Hey, my name is Dallas. I'm a recovery coach for gay men who are trying to break free from the patterns of crystal meth and live their best and highest life. I meet a lot of men who have a collection of coins and key tags and have all the milestones in the world. They're going to all the meetings and all the dinners and all the fellowships, but they still hate their life. This is because your measure of success was misplaced. You only set a goal of quitting meth. There's such thing as emotional sobriety. That was what's supposed to come next after the 12 steps if you look at what Bill W. wrote. Emotional sobriety is digging deep into those emotions that you've been running from, that trauma that caused your body to trigger. It's all the big, big work that comes after you quit the substance. What's the use of quitting meth if you're still going to be miserable?
