A New Life In Recovery
As with anything else in life, the longer you work with your recovery, the easier it will become. However, the beginning stages can feel somewhat like a nightmare. The worst part being the fact that it’s far from your average bad dream. You can’t make it go away by simply opening your eyes. It’s important to keep in mind, no matter how challenging it may currently be, things will get better in time as long as you have the willpower and strength to hold on for the ride.
As a recovering addict myself, I know what it’s like to begin recovery and see it through. Was it easy? No! Was it worth it? Without a doubt!
I learned several things along my path to a better life that made the process much easier for me. I believe if you use these tips you will greatly increase your chances of maintaining a clean and sober life.
Here’s what I’ve learned in my experiences…
It Won’t Be Easy, But These Tips Can Help
1. Meditation Is A Must
I knew nothing about meditation before I began my recovery. I thought it was only something that gurus and people in other parts of the world did. I couldn’t have been any further from the truth. These days, the number of people who use meditation to better their lives in a number of ways is constantly on the rise.
When we meditate, we create peace within ourselves. Often, addicts use because they are trying to deal with something within themselves. As we all know, using doesn’t make anything better. In fact, it does little more than make everything much worse. When we create inner-peace we defeat the need to self-medicate with dangerous toxins. It truly is a natural way to ease and relieve ourselves.
Here’s a great meditation to get you started. The best part, it’s simple to do and you can grab it for free. Think of it as a gift from us to you. Enjoy!
2. Be Responsible For Your Actions
A person will never remain in recovery if they are not able to be take accountability for their actions. Sure, it may seem easier to pass blame off on others but there’s no good outcome that comes from this. Problems won’t go away simply because we point our fingers at others. We have to go to the core of our problems and discover which of our actions or behaviors contributed to the problem as well as what we need to do to resolve them.
It’s not always easy to take responsibility. In fact, it can often be very challenging. However, this is definitely one of those things where the rewards greatly outweigh the difficulty.
3. Keep Your Circle Positive
Whether you believe it or not, the people you surround yourself with can have an impact on your life. The type of impact created depends on the type of people you have in your circle. I know this sounds cliché and you’ve probably heard it a thousand times in your life. However, it’s true and if change is what you want, you’ll likely need to change the people you allow into your life. This may mean cutting ties and making new friends. At the end of the day, it’s important for you to remember that you are in a fight for your life. If the people around you aren’t helping you, should they be a part of your life at all?
4. Do Your Part To Give Back
Believe it or not, one of the best ways to help ourselves is to do what we can to help others. Volunteer work is a great way to keep yourself busy while making you feel great about yourself at the same time. There are always places looking for volunteers that would love you help. Reach out and see what you can do to not only improve your life, but the lives of the people in the community around you.
5. Find Someone You Can Talk To
No matter what, we should never keep things bottled up. It doesn’t make our problems go away and it can keep us living on the edge of relapse. While it may be uncomfortable in the beginning, it is extremely important that you find a person you can trust enough to share your thoughts and feelings with. Releasing pent up emotions and thoughts works wonders when it comes to staying on the right path. Make sure you can really trust the person you talk to. The last thing you want is someone spreading your business everywhere.
There you have it. These tips may seem simple, but they can make a huge difference in your recovery. I have many more that I have learned during my recovery that I would like to share, but we’ll save them for a future post.
I hope you enjoyed this article and I also hope these tips will help you remain strong, continue on your path to sobriety, and most of all give you freedom from the terrible disease we know as addiction.