A journal can serve many purposes.
It can act as a sounding board, a shoulder to cry on, a cheerleader and a support system to name a few.
These are all things you need when in recovery from an addiction.
It’s amazing how powerful a tool writing can be. Here are just a few ways that you can harness the therapeutic power of journaling to aid you in your recovery.
Recommit in Writing
Write a paragraph explaining why you want to beat your addiction. What are the benefits? Why is important to you? Sometimes, our reasons for wanting to stay clean and sober get lost in the struggle. But reaffirming those reasons every day in a concrete way helps to strengthen your commitment and determination.
Describing Your Challenges and Struggles
Give yourself a few minutes a day of peace and quiet during which time you can just think. Think about your addiction, and where you are in your recovery. Think about what is going on right now in your life. Then, just start writing. For ten minutes or so, write down anything and everything that pops into your head. Don’t try to edit yourself, or control what you’re writing. Just let the words fall onto the page. This accomplishes two things. First, it clears your mind of clutter, so you’ll feel more calm and clear. Equally important, it reveals thoughts, feelings and issues you didn’t even know were there. Often, addictions are caused by issues we try to keep buried. Free writing forces those issues to the surface, where you can “look them in the eye” and deal with them.
Pat Yourself on the Back
Whenever you pass a positive milestone in your recovery, write about it. Celebrate it. We have a tendency to focus on the things that are going wrong in our lives. The struggles, setbacks, bad memories, etc. Writing in your journal gives you a chance to focus on the good parts.
This also serves as a record of your progress. Every so often you can pull out your journal, read your milestone entries, and feel proud of how far you’ve come. In addition, this will make you want to reach even bigger milestones.
Recovering from an addiction isn’t easy. Writing in a journal is a simple tool that can play a part in your recovery; helping you regain and maintain control of your life.
