The Road to Recovery: 9 Ways to Strengthen Your Addiction Recovery
It’s often said that the first step toward addiction recovery is the hardest. So, if you’re reading this article, then congratulations! You’ve already made the immensely brave decision to recover from your addiction.
Still, there are many more steps to go on this road to recovery. And, for the recovering addict, this unfamiliar new lifestyle can be frightening, even overwhelming.
But don’t worry. We’re going to help you stay strong as you adjust to the sober life.
Below are 9 important tips to strengthen your addiction recovery. Read these steps now and incorporate them into your recovery plan.
1. Eliminate Your Triggers
Before, your whole life was structured around your addiction. If you merely remove the addiction from that structure, your life won’t make any sense.
Now that you’re sober, you need to completely restructure your life around sobriety. The first step is identifying and eliminating triggers from your life.
Start by remembering your previous routine. At what points in that routine would you normally engage in your addiction? Think of the reasons why: certain locations, situations, feelings, friends, isolation, etc.
Then, come up with a new structure by systematically removing these triggers from your routine. Replace them instead with wholesome new activities or situations. For example, instead of going to the bar with your drinking buddies every Friday, spend that time with your family or support group.
HALT
Other triggers to consider are HALT: Hungy, Angry, Lonely, Tired. Make provisions for these universal triggers as well.
Keep plenty of healthy snacks on hand, like granola bars, to keep your hunger from turning into a craving. Don’t underestimate the importance of healthy sleep habits. Get a full 8 or 9 hours of sleep every night.
Avoid loneliness by not being alone. As much as possible, try to keep yourself surrounded by loved ones who support your choice of sobriety.
As for anger, we’ll show you some techniques on this list to help you maintain healthy, positive emotions.
2. Get Fit
Science has proven over and over again that mental health is directly linked to physical health. So, if you improve the health of your physical body, your mind will be stronger against your triggers and cravings.
Start by deciding on an exercise routine and making it a permanent part of your life. This is mandatory for strong mental health.
Exercise has been proven to significantly reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Plus, it also improves your cognitive ability, self-esteem, energy, and sleep.
3. Eat Healthy
Next, make some healthy changes to your diet. In particular, eating plenty of raw fruits and vegetables has been proven to boost mental and emotional health in many studies.
You’ll also want to reduce your intake of unhealthy foods. Consuming an excess of fat, sugar, and/or highly processed foods is known to worsen your mental/emotional health.
Furthermore, a commitment to healthy living is a far more helpful mindset than “not using.” You see, if your main goal is to “beat addiction,” then you’re still thinking about addiction all the time. But if your goal is to be healthy, it gives you something besides addiction to focus on.
4. Make Goals
As we just said, positive goals (“eat healthy”) are more helpful than your negative goal (“don’t use”). They reiterate the many things you can do instead of constantly reminding you of the one thing you can’t.
So, in addition to your commitment to bodily health, make a list of goals for all areas of your life. Start with your job.
If you don’t have a job, make it your goal to get one. If you’re unhappy at your job, think about how you can fix that.
Perhaps you can work toward a promotion or change positions. Alternatively, you can find a similar job at a different company. Or change careers entirely—even go back to school for your dream job.
In the same way, make goals for your relationships, hobbies, learning, helping others, volunteer work, etc. Staying busy with/focused on healthy goals is essential for recovery.
5. Maintain Financial Stability
There is, however, one thing we have to warn you about when making career goals. It’s important to your recovery that you maintain financial stability.
Financial problems are extremely stressful and could trigger a relapse. So, don’t just go quitting your job for a better one. And, don’t wait for the “perfect” job if you don’t have one.
Job satisfaction is important, but not that urgent. You can take care of that goal later. It’s much more urgent that you achieve financial stability so you can pay the bills.
6. Surround Yourself With Support
You want to make sure your new life routine includes plenty of healthy social connection. As much as you can, you want to surround yourself with supportive, encouraging people. It’s a good idea to regularly attend a support group with others who are recovering.
Remember, loneliness is a very common trigger. But you also don’t want to spend time with unhealthy company—bad influences who may encourage you to relapse.
If you plan on going out, don’t go alone. Invite your supportive friends to be there with you. Try to make sure that, wherever you go, you’ll have people there you can trust for support and accountability.
7. Take Time For Yourself
Still, no one can be in groups all the time. So when you have to be alone, do it right.
Plan for your alone time because you know that isolation is difficult. Schedule this time into your day and plan what you will be doing. Make it something relaxing and enjoyable.
If you don’t plan it out, you’re free to do “whatever you feel like doing.” That could lead to relapse.
8. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is an extremely helpful technique for calming your anxieties and mastering your emotions. It trains you to regain control when you start getting overwhelmed by negative feelings and thoughts.
To practice mindfulness, you focus on whatever’s going on in the moment without any opinion or judgment. One common example is observing the pattern of your breathing. This technique is an important way to connect with yourself and develop inner strength.
9. Be Grateful
Regret and guilt will always try to push you back into using. Counter this by being constantly grateful.
Forget your life before. It’s in the past and it can’t touch you anymore. Keep your focus on how grateful you are for what’s happening in your life right now.
Strengthen Your Addiction Recovery
Addiction recovery is frightening and difficult. But it’s also possible, hopeful, wonderful, and completely worth the effort.
Negative thoughts and emotions don’t have to control you anymore. Use the tips on this list for a strong and successful recovery.
If you want more addiction recovery tips, read our guide on 3 helpful alternatives to AA. We also have useful advice on several other topics, like what to do when you’re injured on the job. Find these and many other practical guides on our lifestyle blog.
Ben Stern wrote this article on behalf of FreeUp. FreeUp is the fastest-growing freelance marketplace in the US. FreeUp only accepts the top 1% of freelance applicants. Click here to get access to the top freelancers in the world.
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