Recovering From Addiction? Here's How to Stay Sober
Recovering from an addiction is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do in your life. It takes a tremendous amount of willpower and commitment to beat an addiction.
The rehab program will be valuable in helping you with your addiction. However, the hardest part is staying sober after the program is done or during the recovery period.
About half of all addicts relapse hence knowing how to stay sober will be crucial. The following are tips to help you stay sober when recovering from addiction:
Personal Triggers
You should evaluate yourself and find out what your addiction triggers are. The key here is to be completely honest as it is your life that is at stake. It can be hard to complete this sort of self-evaluation when you're in the midst of addiction, so reaching out for help can be beneficial. You should understand the different types of treatment such as ibogaine treatment mexico cost if you're looking for a more holistic approach to help you gain awareness and understanding of yourself.
Once you understand your triggers, you can take steps to avoid them. Having a plan to avoid the triggers will make a significant difference between success or failure.
Common triggers for relapse are stress, anxiety, relationship issues, financial troubles, and changes in the environment. You should also have a plan for unexpected events that may trigger your chemical dependence.
Withdrawal Symptoms
Just because you are not using the drugs anymore does not mean you will not feel the withdrawal symptoms after rehab. You should be prepared for post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) can last from six months to two years after rehab.
It is paramount that you learn to deal with these withdrawal symptoms by having a plan to counter them. The stronger the symptoms the harder they will be to fight it.
On the other hand, the more prepared you are, the easier it will be to fight the symptoms. These symptoms can be a significant barrier to remaining sober during recovery.
Develop New Habits
Actions create habits and habits form behavior. It is very difficult to stop old behavior especially those that lead to chemical dependence and addiction.
If you want to stay sober during recovery, it is paramount that you develop new habits. You should try and make them as different as the habits you had before recovery.
Some of the habits to avoid are obvious such as avoiding places and people where you can have access to the addictive substance. Others are less subtle and will require a long time to become ingrained into your routine.
Support
Support is vital if you want to remain sober when going during recovery from addiction. There are very few people who are strong enough to remain sober on their own.
The Alcoholics Anonymous group is a fantastic example of a support group for recovering addicts. The key is to ensure that you go for regular meetings otherwise even the best support group will not work. The more meetings you go to, the better your chance of staying sober.
These meetings are an amazing place to build healthy relationships with others on the same journey as you. Shared experience is the strongest bond for a relationship.
If you are not comfortable meeting with strangers, you should develop a support system of people you know. Friends and family will be great choices for support in most cases.
Healthy Living
Substance abuse can have a devastating effect on your physical and emotional health. Therefore, if you want to stay sober during recovery, you should live as healthy a life as possible.
Healthy living encompasses both the mind and body. For starters, you should eat a healthy nutritious diet with plenty of fiber. Your diet will matter a lot when it comes to improving your health.
You should also start exercising or being physically active as much as possible. Recreational activities and physical hobbies are a great idea to improve physical health.
Sleep is a crucial component of healthy living as well. Therefore, you should develop a good nighttime routine that you can stick to which helps you get plenty of sleep.
Acceptance
Making poor choices is what leads to addiction. We all make mistakes as humans but the key to moving past them is accepting your flaws.
If you want to stay sober during recovery, you have to accept the mistakes you made in the past if you are to move on to your new life. If you constantly blame yourself or others for your addiction and are unable to forgive yourself, you cannot stay sober.
Most addicts will have caused a lot of pain and suffering while they were addicted which can cause a lot of guilt. You can make amends which will help you accept your mistakes and stay sober.
There are plenty of things you can do to stay sober while recovering from a substance addiction. The above are only a small fragment of the list. Find out exactly what works for you and do it. The key is to be adamant about its execution.
Seek Help From A Professional
It's natural to feel alone when you're recovering from addiction. That's why support groups are often recommended. They're not the only people you can get help from, however.
Seeking professional assistance can be quite helpful on your journey. With an addiction recovery center, you can learn all of the skills needed on the path to sobriety.
Addiction specialists and therapists can also give you the support you need throughout the journey. Taking this approach can minimize your chances of relapse.
It can also offer several other benefits, such as:
Helping identify triggers.
Learning more about addiction.
Building new habits.
Establishing healthy boundaries.
That can give you more than enough of a reason to seek help from a professional. Your health is what matters, and professionals will make it a priority.
There are multiple centers that can help you with this. Many of these can be more than recommended.
It's worth making sure that they're the right choice for you, however. Determining what services they offer and whether they'll be beneficial to your journey will be vital for this.
Once you do, you can build a much more solid foundation for your sobriety.
