Changing Lives with Intuitive Recovery

Think Pieces

By Basma Aboudihaj · July 26, 2022

I was 18 years old when I started drinking and going out with my peers. Everyone used to meet at the pub and everyone I mixed with used to drink alcohol in one way or another. This continued for many years starting on the weekends, then progressing to having a drink every day, and eventually turned into something I just did. 

I first realised I had a problem with alcohol when I became aware that I was drinking on a regular basis and if a bottle was open, I wouldn’t be happy until I had finished it. But after I became widowed it turned into a habit. The big realisation came when I was hospitalised on two occasions and my daughters had to be contacted and told where I was.  

After my hospital visits, I started forgetting things such as what I had been doing when I was drunk. I was making seriously bad judgment calls, I was lying to the people who loved and cared for me, and I was being deceitful. I had become a liability to my family and friends and causing stress and worry. Once I realised the problems I was causing, not only for myself but for others too, I finally admitted that I had a problem with alcohol. This was the first step in regaining control and trying to find the help and support that I needed. I started attending AA meetings but they related too much to religion and I didn’t feel that it was right for me. My doctor referred me for counselling, but this again didn’t give me the support I needed to stop drinking.  

I left it for a few months during Covid, then decided to contact my doctor because my depression and anxiety were sky high and my drinking had become excessive. My doctor arranged for me to attend telephone counselling sessions and advised me there were other routes I could try such as Intuitive Recovery. I was so alone and in desperate need for help I asked to be put in touch with Intuitive Thinking Skills. 

I found the telephone counselling somewhat helpful but it didn’t give me the kickstart I needed. Then Intuitive Recovery entered my life and it has changed it forever.  I was nervous to start the course as I didn’t really know what to expect. I received my workbook and as we started on the course I was finally getting the support I needed!  

Intuitive Recovery opened my eyes to all sorts of things, it showed me different ways of saying no, ways of coping day to day, the mechanics of the mind, other’s experiences and their ways of dealing with drink and drugs. Intuitive Recovery provided me with the skills and tools to support myself and to accept help from others. I didn’t think this could be so effective but WOW! What a difference this has made to me. 

I now carry a notebook around with me everywhere I go and have listed lots of useful information from the workbook including defining the problem, understanding addiction, how to deal with IT, transposing, debating with IT and giving yourself a conclusion. I am opening a new chapter in my life which I would have never committed to before. 

Since completing the course I have joined a gym, I’m eating healthier, I’m doing yoga with my daughter and have recently started tai-chi. So much as changed since completing the course, my health, my desires my attitude, my self-respect, and the way my friends and family see me. I am now planning to achieve more of my goals in life and believe in myself more, to trust myself to make the right decisions and most of all TO NEVER DIRNK ALCOHOL AGAIN!