The first weeks of addiction recovery can be difficult, especially when recovering from something as big as a drug or alcohol addiction. Not only is your life different, you’re also different.
As your body heals from the physical effects of the addiction, you also have to re-discover who you are as a person. Do you have hobbies you enjoy? What brings you happiness? What’s your greater purpose in life?
As you will learn in outpatient drug rehab (Awakenings Treatment Center is located in Agoura Hills, California), it’s important to take things one day at a time. If you get ahead of yourself, you can create stress and anxiety that puts you at risk for relapse. It’s okay to feel nervous about the changes taking place, but there are ways to embrace your recovery and get through these early days in one piece.
Here are some of the best steps you can take to embrace your new, substance-free lifestyle.
Surround yourself with positive people
Open yourself up to spending time with friends, family and neighbors who are good for your recovery. Even if you don’t think you have much in common with them, you might discover differently. Plus, keeping yourself socially engaged passes the time, prevents boredom, and protects you from relapse. In time, you can build new friendships that don’t involve drugs and alcohol.
Revisit an old hobby you used to love
Before you started using drugs and alcohol, was there a hobby or activity that you enjoyed? Revisit it and see if you have the same feelings. You might find that a spark returns and a sliver of your “old self” returns. It’s possible that you’ve moved on and are now interested in other things. That’s okay, too. The goal is to find things to do in your free time that make you happy and give you purpose.
Practice self-care
If you were recovering from an illness, you would take extra steps to care for yourself. You should treat your recovery in the same way. Your body is vulnerable right now and needs extra care to fully heal. Make self-care a priority. Eat a nutritious, well-balanced recovery diet to boost vitamins and minerals. Exercise most days of the week to release feel-good endorphins in the brain. And, get enough rest each night so that your body can repair itself.
Know your boundaries – avoid pushing yourself
Too often in life, people rush to make others happy. Right now, you don’t need to worry about pleasing anyone. Your recovery must come first. It’s the best gift you can give yourself and others. To avoid burning yourself out, be sure you are honest about what you can and can’t do. You can talk to a therapist in a trauma treatment center about how to set healthy boundaries.
Practice gratitude
It’s normal to have good and bad days in early recovery. To help keep your mindset grounded, write in a gratitude journal. This can be done in a notebook or on your smartphone or tablet. We recommend doing this each morning to boost your mood. Write down a few things that you are grateful for and why. This healthy practice refocuses your negative thoughts into positive ones, helping you start your day on the right foot.
Recovery is a lifelong process, and it must start somewhere. Today is that day. By following our simple strategies above, you can embrace the first weeks of recovery and move closer to long-term sobriety. To start addiction treatment in Agoura Hills, California, contact Awakenings Treatment today.
