The first big step towards addiction recovery is realizing that you have an addiction and everything else comes later on. The road to recovery is nonetheless full of challenges, but those challenges are a sign of progress and change. The change that is happening inside you, both physically and emotionally. In addiction recovery, you will battle against the urges to go back to your addiction, and the struggle to rebuild your relationship with the people around you.
It is going to be a bumpy ride but one that you won’t regret and will only bring new opportunities your way. What is most important is staying vigilant of the challenges that, if not dealt with, might steer you back towards addiction.
1. Urge To Go Back To Addiction
One cannot expect overnight results from addiction recovery. It is a long process and goes on post-rehab as well because the urge to go back to addiction is very much possible. If you face the same situation again that got you into addiction in the first place, you are most likely to relapse.
For this purpose, consulting with professional services post-rehab is very important. It doesn’t mean going back to a rehab center if you are not ready for that and leave the life you have built for yourself all that time. Experts at Lantana Recovery Outpatient Rehab suggest that outpatient and on-off treatment can help the patient with relapses.
People can reach out for help with their struggles at a place where they are most comfortable and they can address their specific needs. This is actually more helpful since people can get their services tailored to their requirements instead of having to follow a general process.
2. Dealing With Emotions
PTSD, stress, shame, and guilt are some common emotional struggles during addiction recovery. Sometimes people get into drugs to get rid of these very emotions which makes it a more crucial challenge.
You need to embrace these emotions, talk about them, and seek therapy instead of hiding them and dealing with them all on your own. Hiding these emotions might further damage your relationship with the people you care about.
3. Rebuilding Relationships
Addiction affects relationships to a great extent. Seeing someone you care about fall into addiction is hurtful and damaging. An addict tends to push away people and develop anger management issues. Which makes their family and friends dissociate from them. Rebuilding these relationships can be a difficult and time-consuming process because it takes a while for people to start trusting you again.
This is a crucial step because a recovering addict needs to deal with loneliness, hopelessness and helplessness. Having their family and friends around makes this process easier for them and helps with the transition from rehab to home and encourages them to settle back into the society.
4. Recovering From Addiction-caused Character Flaws
Addiction causes anger management issues, procrastination, selfishness, jealousy, mood swings and irrational behavior in people. It’s important to lead yourself out from distress during this uncertain time. Therapy plays an important role in this step. It is important to seek help from professional mental health services.
5. Transition From Rehab To Home/Work Life
Transition from rehab to home and adjusting into your normal life can be a difficult and challenging process. It is important to prepare yourself mentally for this change during rehab so the transition can be easy. Getting back into your social life will be challenging but worth the effort and it is the entire purpose of addiction recovery: get back to your normal social and personal life.
6. Finding New Coping Mechanisms
People use drugs as coping mechanisms so post-rehab and during rehab you will have to find new positive coping mechanisms for yourself. They can be anything: doing something you enjoy like art or music or talking to people and joining support groups. All these things will help replace your old toxic habits.
It is normal to feel challenged by the addiction recovery process but what matters is how you deal with those challenges. It is important to remember why you are doing this and what will come out of it. Once you set your mind to getting your life back you will easily overcome any challenge that life sends your way.
