Fear can make recovery feel impossible. Addiction tells you that you are going to lose everything you love, or that you will never get the life you want. But what if those thoughts are not predictions, but lies? In this School of Rock Bottom Thought Series, Oliver Mason explores fear, catastrophising, relapse, gratitude, faith and the power of living in the present moment. Drawing on my own recovery and years of working with people in addiction treatment, I asks a simple but powerful question: what if you stopped putting your faith in the fear and started putting your faith in recovery?

Addiction has a remarkable ability to hijack our thinking. The moment we become grateful for our relationships, our work, our health or our lives, fear can turn those very things into reasons to worry. What if I lose this? What if everything goes wrong? What if I never get what I want? Suddenly, the future becomes a place of catastrophe, and alcohol or drugs can begin to look like an escape from a future that exists only in our imagination.

I explor why living in the day can be such a powerful principle in recovery. We cannot know exactly what is going to happen tomorrow, but addiction can convince us that we do. It gives us the worst possible outcome and presents it as though it is inevitable. Learning to recognise that process can create space between the fear and the decision to pick up a drink or drug.

I also explores the relationship between fear and self-centred thinking, and why helping another person can be such a powerful way of getting out of our own heads. From working with people in rehab to simply being there for somebody else, recovery can shift our attention away from the relentless internal noise of what I calls the “Oli show”.

For people who find the spiritual language of recovery difficult, I offer another way of looking at faith. You do not necessarily have to believe in God or follow a particular religion to have faith. You can put your faith in recovery itself. Every day without drugs or alcohol becomes another piece of evidence that recovery works. Even when life becomes difficult, the overall trajectory can still be moving forward.

This thought is ultimately about learning to trust the process. A difficult day does not mean recovery has failed. A closed door does not necessarily mean the end of the road. Sometimes the path simply changes. Sometimes the thing you feared losing makes way for something you could never have imagined finding.

If you are in recovery, struggling with fear, worried about relapse, questioning your future or finding it difficult to trust that things can get better, this is a reminder to stay in the day, reach out, help somebody else and give tomorrow the opportunity to surprise you.

Listen or watch THE FULL EPISODE

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About the “THOUGHT” series -

Every other Monday at 5 PM, I’ll bring you a quick ‘thought’—a powerful moment from previous episodes designed to kickstart your week with insight, motivation, and connection. These shorter clips help us stay connected as a community, while every other Tuesday delivers a full, brand-new episode with fresh stories and lessons.

Oliver is an ambassador for Alcohol Change UK and you can access support here - https://tinyurl.com/5dt5773e

Podcasting is an expensive passion. To help me keep going, I'd really appreciate it if you could buy me a coffee, thank you!

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