When you first stopped drinking or using drugs, you felt extremely motivated to stay on track. However, as time has gone on, now you’re looking for ways to stay motivated for addiction recovery. You certainly don’t want to relapse, but how can you stay on track when the “newness” of your recovery has worn off a bit?
First of all, rest assured that you’re not alone. This is something that addicts face at one time or another during addiction recovery. The key is in knowing how to respond. When faced with this type of dilemma, it’s best to go back to the principles you learned in addiction counselling and renew them in your mind.
Addiction Treatment
In every addiction recovery program, once addicts are able to stop drinking or using drugs, they learn about the power alcohol and drugs have over their lives. This is something that can get lost as you move forward in your recovery, so it’s important to revisit them and give your mind a refresher. Addiction counselling teaches you about the importance of taking one day at a time and it also teaches you to use alternate coping methods to deal with your problems. These are skills that can be lost if they’re not practiced intentionally.
Addiction recovery requires for you to make some changes in your life in order to avoid those old behaviors. These changes allow you to look the world differently and see your addiction as something to be overcome instead of something to be embraced.
So, how do you stay motivated? Here are some ideas you can use to help, and they all come from the basic principles you learned when you first entered addiction treatment.
- 1. Keep Your Goals Small: It’s fun to think of big goals, but bigger goals take a longer time to accomplish. It’s better to create smaller goals inside of big goals because it gives you that sense of accomplishment and success that you desire.
- 2. Keep Track of Your Accomplishments: When you’re not keeping track of everything you’ve accomplished, it’s easy to feel stuck when you’re in recovery. Try keeping a journal and writing down all of the goals you’ve met. This will help you to understand that you’re working hard and it really is paying off.
- 3. Reward Yourself: It’s a lot of fun to reward yourself when you’re in recovery, and those rewards give you something to look forward to. For example, if you’re addicted to alcohol, try setting aside some of the money you would have spent on alcohol and use that money to buy yourself something nice after thirty days. Do it again after sixty or ninety days. It’s much easier to stay motivated when you know there’s a reward for you.
- 4. Keep in Touch with Your Support System: Friends and family members who love you and who are cheering you on can be an amazing motivation for you. It’s OK to let them know when you need a little extra support. They want you to be successful, so they’ll give it to you gladly. They’ll also help you celebrate those smaller victories.
- 5. Try Something New: You’ve probably done quite well with mapping out a new routine for yourself, but don’t forget to add in some fun too. Is there something you’ve always wanted to try, but you just haven’t yet? Maybe it’s a new hobby or a new family activity. This is a great time to do something new.
If you’re in need of addiction counselling in Toronto, I can help you find the freedom you’re looking for. Please contact me for an appointment.
