People throw the word kick around like it is a clean moment of willpower, like you wake up, throw your stash away, sweat a bit, and then you are back to normal. That language sounds tough, and toughness sells on social media, but it also gets people hurt. When someone says they are trying to kick, what they usually mean is that their body has become dependent, and now the body is demanding the substance just to feel stable. That is not weakness, it is biology, and biology does not care how motivated you feel on a Monday morning.

The slang has been around for decades, and it spread because it is short and blunt, but it also hides how serious detox can be for the wrong person. If we are going to use the word, we should at least be honest about what it covers. Kicking is not a mindset, it is withdrawal, cravings, sleep disruption, anxiety spikes, mood crashes, and a brain that has been trained to find relief fast. For some substances, it can also involve medical risk, and pretending otherwise is how families end up panicking at two in the morning with no plan.

The Myth of Just Kicking It

The phrase just kick it does something dangerous, it makes people think the main challenge is deciding to stop. Decision matters, but the real pressure shows up when the body and mind start pushing back. That pushback is why people relapse quickly, not because they love chaos, but because their nervous system is screaming for relief and their brain is offering a simple deal, use now and the discomfort stops.

Families also fall for the myth because it gives them a script. They tell the person to be strong, they remove the substance, they threaten consequences, and they wait for the person to come back normal. When the person fails, the family calls them weak or selfish, and then the cycle gets uglier. A better script is practical, what substance is involved, how dependent is the person, what medical risks exist, what supports are in place, and what happens after the first week when cravings start negotiating again.

When The Body Has Had Enough

Withdrawal is what happens when the substance is removed and the body is forced to rebalance. For some people it looks like sweating, shaking, nausea, irritability, restless sleep, and a mood that feels like a raw nerve. For others it escalates into panic, confusion, hallucinations, severe depression, or seizures, depending on the substance and the person’s health profile.

The point is not to scare people for attention, the point is to stop people treating detox like a dare. Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous for heavy daily drinkers, sedative withdrawal can be dangerous, and people can misjudge risk because they are focused on the substance rather than the dependency level. Even when withdrawal is not medically fatal, it can still be so uncomfortable and mentally destabilising that a person returns to using just to stop the internal chaos.

When someone is in withdrawal, they often cannot think clearly. They will promise anything to make the symptoms stop, and their brain will tell them lies that sound like logic, like you can handle one, you can taper, you can start again tomorrow, you have been good, you deserve relief. This is why kicking is not a motivational moment, it is a vulnerable phase where safety and structure matter more than speeches.

The Real Trigger Is Often A Feeling

People love to talk about triggers like they are only external. They blame a certain friend, a certain bar, a certain street, a certain club, and yes, those things matter. But for many people, the most powerful trigger is internal. Anxiety that builds in the chest, loneliness that feels like hunger, anger that needs somewhere to go, shame that makes the skin crawl, boredom that feels unbearable, and a sense that life is too loud or too empty.

Once you understand that, you stop giving simplistic advice. You stop saying avoid your friends and you start asking, what happens inside you before you use. What feeling do you not want to feel. What thought do you not want to sit with. What moment do you keep trying to erase. Addiction is often a solution the person found, even if it is a brutal solution, and if you do not replace that solution with something real, the person will keep returning to the same relief.

Cold Turkey Culture

There is a certain pride culture around quitting abruptly. People talk like suffering is proof of seriousness, and they praise the person who locks themselves away and sweats it out. Sometimes people do manage to stop that way, but the bigger problem is that it becomes an identity, and identity is fragile under stress. When the person cracks, they feel humiliated, and humiliation fuels more using.

For some substances and some dependency profiles, stopping suddenly without medical guidance is reckless. It is not brave, it is gambling with your nervous system. Even when it is medically safe, doing it alone is a high relapse setup because isolation magnifies discomfort. If you want a person to stop, you should care about the plan, not the performance. A good plan reduces risk, reduces chaos, and increases the chance that the person reaches the next stage with enough stability to actually learn new behaviour.

What Proper Support Looks Like

Support is not only kindness, and it is not only tough love. Support is structure, supervision when needed, and a realistic plan that does not depend on perfect motivation. In a proper setting, withdrawal is monitored, symptoms are managed, sleep is supported, nutrition and hydration are taken seriously, and the person is protected from easy access to substances while their nervous system stabilises.

Support also includes psychological containment. People in early withdrawal can become irritable, depressed, paranoid, or emotionally chaotic. A professional team understands that this is part of the process, and they respond with boundaries and care rather than drama. Good support reduces shame and increases honesty, because honesty is the foundation of any long term change.

In South Africa, access is not equal, and that is why guidance matters. Some people need inpatient detox because risk is high. Some people can manage outpatient detox with strong medical oversight and a stable home environment. Some people need rehab because their home environment is a trigger factory. The right support is not the fanciest, it is the one that matches the person’s risk and reality.

The First Week Is Physical, The Next Weeks Are Psychological

In the early phase, the body screams. Sleep is unstable, appetite is unstable, mood is unstable, and cravings can feel relentless. Then the body starts settling and the person begins to believe they are fine, and this is where many people get caught. The mind starts romanticising, it tells them they overreacted, it tells them they are cured, it tells them they can handle one, and it tells them they deserve a reward.

This is why planning matters more after detox, not less. The person needs a way to handle stress, boredom, conflict, and shame without returning to the old relief. They need routines that support stability. They need boundaries with people and places that pull them back. They need therapy that challenges avoidance and teaches emotional regulation. They need a support network that does not feed denial.

If you treat kicking like the finish line, you leave the person exposed right when confidence returns and caution disappears.

Kicking Is A Medical And Behavioural Reset

If you drink or use daily and you are scared to stop, that fear is not weakness, it is information. It usually means your body has adapted, and you need a plan that respects the risk. If you have tried to quit and you keep returning, that does not mean you are broken, it means the plan is not matching what you are dealing with.

The slang term kick makes it sound simple, but the truth is that detox is a reset, and the life after detox is where change has to be built. When people stop treating it like a performance and start treating it like a practical process, outcomes improve. Safety improves. Honesty improves. Families breathe again. That is what matters, not the slogan, not the bravado, and not the illusion that you can out tough a nervous system that has been trained to demand relief.

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