Navigating the path to sobriety is not easy. It is a road filled with challenges, pitfalls, and failures, but it can result in success and overall wellness. Indeed, you may come out the other side of this arduous part of your life feeling better than you ever did. The essential keys to getting there are to have patience and compassion, get all the help you need, and find a larger purpose through the process. From there, it is, as they say, one day at a time.
Get Help
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The first step to getting sober, after admitting you have a problem, of course, is to realize you need help. Navigating the path to sobriety alone is virtually impossible; you will need counseling, support, and guidance through this process. Without these aids in place, addicts are much more likely to find themselves using again, and spiraling downward in a cycle of shame. You might think you can “just quit,” but the chances are, sooner rather than later, you’ll start using again.
Fortunately, resources abound to help addicts get sober and stay sober. Often, that help begins in the form of a mental health rehab that will address not only the withdrawals from the substance you have become addicted to but also therapy. Addiction is a disease rooted in the brain; it is psychological, and it becomes physical and emotional. A rehabilitation program will help you address all the issues surrounding your addiction so you can kick it for good.
Take a Holistic Approach
Yes, all the issues. It’s important to understand that addiction is not a matter of using alcohol or drugs and getting addicted to the substance. Rather, it is about the fact that the addiction becomes all-consuming. Addicts tend to withdraw from their friends and family, lie to their loved ones, and often cheat and steal to feed their addiction. Furthermore, your diet, exercise, and sleep patterns are probably chaotic and unhealthy.
When recovering from addiction, you’ll need to address each aspect of your life that has led to addiction, and that will ensure sobriety. This holistic approach means you may need to have family counseling with your loved ones to make amends and build trust again. You’ll want to find work that fulfills you. And, often left out of this discussion, you’ll want to adopt a healthy diet, exercise, and sleep regiment that supports your new sober lifestyle.
Surround Yourself With Supportive People and Ditch the Enablers
Just as you likely cannot get sober alone, it is even more impossible to get sober while surrounded by other addicts. When you’re alone, you may find yourself riddled with intrusive thoughts and longing to use again to escape the loneliness of life. When you’re with friends or family members who use, you’ll more easily be lured into participating in the toxic habits you’re trying to leave behind.
So, take the time to look around you and build your circle of support while eliminating the negative influences from your life. Supportive people encourage you to engage in positive habits like taking walks or cooking fresh meals. Enablers and negative influences will either use in front of you or justify your use, so you can return to the bad habits. Learn the difference and get selective. Who you surround yourself with matters.
Get Spiritual
No, you don’t necessarily have to “find God.” You don’t have to choose a church or a religious group to get sober. But quite often, addicts find themselves pulled back into addiction and out of their healthy lives because they don’t have a higher purpose. They don’t see the point of life, of staying sober, or of being positive. This approach to life is a highly materialistic one that can grow into nihilism. To maintain sobriety, you often need to feel connected.
Taking a spiritual journey allows many people to find this connection. You could find books or podcasts on recovery throughout spirituality, enroll in weekly yoga classes, and meditate daily to open yourself up to an inner peace that centers you. Form new relationships with others on similar journeys and spend time in discussion groups or group therapy that encourages you to see yourself as part of something larger. Spirituality is a central element of all kinds of healing.
Practice Patience and Forgiveness
Finally, you must have patience, forgiveness, and compassion for yourself. There may be people in your life who will never forgive you — you will have to be OK with that. But you must forgive yourself. One of the worst things you can do while trying to get sober is to shame yourself, blame yourself, and beat yourself up over your past mistakes. Of course, you must take responsibility for your actions, but that’s different from shame.
Just like with any other journey uphill in life, you must learn from your mistakes and do what you can to fix them. Take sobriety one day at a time, one moment at a time, and understand that you may slide backward. Each time you fall, you will have to get yourself back up and work through the steps to sobriety again, but know that this time you are not starting from scratch. You are starting from experience. It may take a lifetime, but it’s worth it to be happy, healthy, and free.
Addiction is an illness, and it takes ongoing, dedicated work to overcome. There is no easy way out, no quick fix, and no endpoint. Addicts will typically say they are “recovering” even if it’s been years since they’ve used. Understanding that recovering from addiction and being sober is a lifestyle adjustment is critical to lasting success. Get the help you need, find purpose in your path, and approach your recovery from all angles. When you do, you are much more likely to see positive results.