Breaking free from a bad habit or addiction can feel like an overwhelming process, but you are not alone. If you are searching for small things you can do to change your life, it’s okay to ask for help.
Many resources can help you take back control of your life and start on a positive path to recovery. Here are some tips for starting this journey and making the most out of your path to sobriety.
How to Change Your Life for the Better
Embarking on the journey to recover from alcoholism requires dedication and persistence. Embracing small, positive changes can help you stay healthy and keep you from going back to drinking. Consider the following tips as you start your journey toward recovery.
Tips for Changing and Growing
In order to change your life, it helps to start with the basics. Here are a few tips for getting started:
- Find supportive friends
- Set goals you can reach
- Replace bad habits with good ones
- Learn from your past
- Make a daily schedule
- Take care of yourself
Once you practice these tips for growing and changing, you will be better equipped to make meaningful, lasting changes. These tips provide a foundation to build on as you continue your path to sobriety.
When making positive changes in life, it’s also important to recognize and appreciate the progress you’ve made. Small successes lead to bigger ones, so take time out of each day to recognize and celebrate your accomplishments no matter how small. This will help keep you motivated and focused on achieving your ultimate goal of sobriety.
Remember that recovery is a journey and not a destination. There may be bumps along the way, but don’t get discouraged. Instead, use those moments as learning opportunities to better understand yourself and what’s important to you. With the right support system, a positive attitude, and an open mind, anything is possible.
Find Supportive Friends
Hang out with people who will help you get better and grow. This can be close friends, family, or support groups. People who quit drinking need a strong support system. You can also get help to stay away from alcohol by joining a 12-step program like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or an alternative recovery support group like SMART Recovery.
Set Goals You Can Reach
Break your goals into smaller steps and celebrate your progress. This will help you stay excited and focused. Think about short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals, for example, can be one month of not drinking and going to a certain number of meetings. Long-term goals could look like one year of not drinking or fixing relationships with loved ones.
Replace Bad Habits With Good Ones
Instead of drinking, you could volunteer, work out, or take a class related to something you’ve always wanted to learn more about, like painting or martial arts. These new hobbies can help you feel better and fill the space that alcohol left. Exercise can improve your physical and mental health, and learning something new can help you feel productive and focused.
Learn From Your Past
Think about how your drinking has affected you in the past and use this to make better choices in the future. Knowing what caused your drinking problem can help you avoid the same mistakes later. This might mean figuring out what things make you want to drink, understanding how stress affects you, or getting any possible mental health issues treated.
Make a Daily Schedule
Having a schedule can help you keep your life stable and make it easier to stay away from alcohol. A routine can include regular meals, exercise, going to meetings, and getting enough sleep.
Take Care of Yourself
Focus on your mental and emotional health by doing things that make you feel good. This can be taking a relaxing bath, talking to friends and family, or spending time outside. Self-care is important for a balanced and healthy life.
Counseling for Growth and Change
Getting help from a professional can be a very important step in recovering from alcoholism. Counselors can help you understand why you became addicted and teach you how to change your behavior, so it lasts. They can also help you learn how to manage stress and discover the roots of your drinking habits.
In private therapy sessions, you can talk about your feelings and experiences with a trained professional who will keep your conversations confidential. You can learn more about how the human brain behaves during addiction, and how to cope with triggers when they arise.
Group therapy can also be very helpful to someone who is struggling with addiction. Sharing your problems with others who are going through the same thing can make you feel less isolated on your journey toward recovery. Listening to other people’s stories can also arm you with new ideas and ways to cope.
Family therapy can help fix broken relationships and rebuild trust with your loved ones. It can also teach your family how to help you on your journey to sobriety.
How to Make Change and Growth Last
While trying to stay sober and battling the urge to drink, it’s important to approach your transformation and personal growth with kindness and understanding. Here are some gentle tips to help you make long-lasting progress:
- Stay positive: Believe in yourself and focus on what you’ve done so far. Keeping a positive attitude can help you stay motivated and get through tough times in your recovery.
- Keep track of your progress: Tell someone who can help you stay focused and hold you accountable for your goals. This could be a sponsor, a friend, or a family member. It can be easier to stay committed to your recovery if you have someone who knows your goals and is willing to check in on your progress.
- Participate in recovery maintenance activities: Regularly attend support group meetings, therapy sessions, or other recovery-focused activities. Keeping in touch with your support system can encourage you and help you stay sober.
- Connect with others in recovery: Surround yourself with other people who are also in recovery. This connection can be an invaluable source of support and help you feel less alone.
- Be mindful of yourself and your surroundings: Practicing mindfulness can help you tune into your feelings and recognize when you need to take a step back from a situation. This may take some practice, but with consistency and dedication, you can learn to avoid triggering situations before they happen.
While these tips are all great ways to start your journey toward recovery, remember that recovery is a journey and not a destination. There may be bumps along the way, but don’t get discouraged. Instead, use those moments as learning opportunities to better understand yourself and what’s important to you. With the right support system, a positive attitude, and an open mind, anything is possible.
What is a Growth Mindset?
A growth mindset is an inner belief that you can get better and learn new things with hard work and persistence. By having a growth mindset, you can overcome setbacks and keep moving forward in your recovery.
People with a growth mindset are more likely to get through tough times and see challenges as chances to learn and grow. On the other hand, a fixed mindset means believing we cannot change ourselves, and that our traits or abilities are set in stone. Having a growth mindset in recovery means understanding that setbacks are normal and using them as learning opportunities.
Here are some ways to develop a growth mindset:
- Embrace challenges: Instead of seeing challenges as impossible obstacles, think of them as chances to learn and improve. Remind yourself that many people, just like you or even in worse situations, have successfully recovered – and you can too.
- Build resilience: When you face setbacks, focus on your ability to overcome them. Think of times when you have overcome a challenge before and how this time it is also possible.
- Ask for feedback: Be open to helpful criticism and use it as an opportunity to grow.
- Celebrate progress: Recognize your achievements, no matter how small, and use them as motivation to keep working toward your goals.
Why Do People Relapse in Long-Term Recovery?
Change is a key part of the early stages of addiction recovery. At the same time, it’s important to keep your focus on yourself and your recovery, no matter how long you have been sober.
Relapse is a common challenge in long-term recovery that can occur when people begin to disregard their health and happiness. Without consistently practicing recovery maintenance, it can be incredibly easy to fall back into old habits during times of stress.
For this reason, it is important to recognize the reasons behind a relapse so that you can make the necessary changes in your life to avoid them in the future.
Some common relapse risks include:
- Stress: Chronic stress can lead to unhealthy coping methods, like returning to drugs or alcohol.
- Triggers: Triggering situations can make it tempting to drink and make it hard to stay sober.
- Temptations: Exposing yourself to drugs and alcohol in long-term recovery can be just as dangerous as early recovery. This is especially true if you are feeling anxious or upset.
- Lack of support: It can be hard to stay sober without people who support your recovery. Friends who don’t understand or respect your choice to remain sober may dismiss your needs or even encourage you to relapse.
- Overconfidence: Thinking you have already “beat” your addiction can make you less careful and increase your risk of relapsing.
- Poor coping methods: If you don’t have positive ways to manage stress and negative emotions, you might be more likely to start drinking again to suppress these feelings.
While relapses can happen in recovery, it’s important to know that it is not inevitable. It is vital for people in recovery to accept their faults while continuing to practice self-compassion and learn from their mistakes. Otherwise, people may relapse to suppress their negative feelings.
Lifestyle Changes That Can Help Prevent A Relapse
To avoid relapse, it’s important to address these factors and make plans to deal with them effectively. This might include learning new coping methods, staying connected with your support system, and being careful about recognizing and coping with triggers.
Similarly, this may mean recognizing when you are feeling triggered and need to take a step back, or it may be asking for help in order to stay on track. It’s also important to know that relapse is a very real possibility – but with the right support, resources, and treatment plans, relapse can be prevented.
Long-term recovery from addiction is possible, but it takes dedication, hard work, and a strong support system. With the right help and resources in place, you can stay on the path to lasting recovery.
Change Your Life with Drug and Alcohol Treatment
Drug and alcohol treatment programs offer a structured way to make good life choices. These programs include counseling, support groups, and other resources to help you build a strong foundation for recovery. By joining a treatment program, you can learn useful skills and methods to stay sober and live a happy life.
Inpatient Programs
For people just starting their recovery journey, inpatient treatment programs provide a positive, focused environment. Typically, inpatient treatment begins in detox which provides a safe, comfortable environment to ride the body of toxins.
After, guests transition into residential inpatient treatment which incorporates intensive, evidence-based therapies to understand the underlying causes of addiction and skill-building activities. A variety of inpatient programs offer individual therapy, group therapy, and education sessions to help you better understand your addiction and learn the skills needed to maintain your sobriety.
Outpatient Programs
Outpatient treatment programs give you more freedom, allowing you to continue with your daily responsibilities while attending therapy sessions and support groups. These programs can be a great option for those who have already completed an inpatient program or for those with less severe addictions. More often than not, outpatient services include intensive outpatient and outpatient programs. Some programs provide transitional programs such as partial hospitalization to ease the process of reintegrating back into society.
Alcohol and Drug Rehab Services That Change Your Life
No matter which type of rehab program you choose, it’s important to stay committed and actively participate in the recovery process. This might involve joining group discussions, completing therapy assignments, or pursuing personal growth outside of treatment.
Examples of rehab services that can help change your life include:
- Holistic therapies: Yoga, meditation, and art therapy are all examples of holistic therapies that can help you learn healthy ways to deal with problems and improve your health.
- Life skills training: Many treatment programs have classes that teach people how to do things like to manage their time, make a budget, and talk to other people. Using these skills can help you build a stable and satisfying life while you’re getting better.
- Continuing care services: Treatment programs often help you plan for how to stay sober after the program is over. For example, this plan can incorporate a transition into an aftercare or outpatient program (OP). Your plan may also include keeping up with therapy, going to support groups, or finding sober places to live.
- Sober support networks: Rehab programs connect you with people who understand what you’re going through is an important part of staying sober. As you participate in treatment, your relationships within the recovery community will help you build your sober support network for long-term recovery.
Recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction is a long-term goal. While it is a challenge, with the right resources and support, anyone can have a beautiful and successful journey. We at Royal Life Centers are committed to guiding and supporting you throughout your recovery process. We understand that every person’s path to sobriety is unique, and we are here to help you find the best way for you.
Reach Out
If you or a loved one wants to learn more about our drug and alcohol rehab programs, please reach out to us today. Our admissions team is available 24/7 at (877)-RECOVERY to answer your questions. Because We Care.
