Many individuals new to recovery believe that a future without their “crutch” will be a miserable and depressing existence. Yes, they are happy to end the cycle of addiction they were stuck in, but they have an ingrained fear that their lives will be glum without their “old buddy” alcohol or their “friend” mister pill, which they have grown so accustomed to and relied on; and if recovering people aren’t shown how to enjoy life without these substances, their worst fears come to fruition. Their lives are glum, they wind up merely existing rather than thriving, and it isn’t long before they turn back to their old habits and old ways of “feeling good.”