relapse dreams are the literal worst

Click the picture to check out a great article on relapse dreams by drugrehab.org

Two night ago I was struck with a dreaded relapse dream. The first few months of my recovery journey that were pretty prevalent. I would say a few a week. I would wake up in a cold sweat, panicked, pissed, and on the verge of tears. At one point I woke up and B had to convince me that I was not currently drunk. I was so convinced by the dream. Once I reached a year I was convinced they would stop. They didn't. They did get less and less frequent. Again at two years I thought they would stop. Well guess what, I guess they didn't. It was just like every relapse dream. I drank, I felt guilty, I was angry. I woke up and wondered why I kept getting these dreams. I got sober, I did the meetings, I did the supporting other people. I DID IT ALL! I also spent 15 years binge drinking and diving head first into a full blown alcohol addiction. 
My subconscious has so many memories and experiences of drinking and drugging to draw on. The scary, embarrassing, terrible, and sad things I have done. I don't know if they will ever stop. I do hope that in 15 years I will have made enough sober memories to out number the drunk ones.  

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How I combat my relapse dreams:

• Call/text/reach out to my friends in recovery. Someone I know will understand.
• Write it down so I can discuss it with my therapist (Hey Catherine!)
• Try to replay the dream. Was the situation something that could have happened in real life? Could I really be on a yacht with Queen B chugging champagne? 
• Think back to the last couple days. Was there a trigger or a situation that made you think and wonder about relapse?

​What do you do to combat your relapse dreams?