Getting out of addiction and into recovery is tough, and potentially one of the most difficult things you will ever have to do. But, unfortunately, getting into treatment is not the end of the story for you and your addiction.
Staying clean and sober after you leave rehab is also difficult, and there is no getting past the fact that this is something you will most likely have to deal with every day.
In the early days after rehab, it can hit you hard that recovery might not be as simple as you thought. Thanks to the unusual environment of a rehab centre, combined with a range of support options available to you 24 hours a day (and every part of your day in detox being geared towards helping you to get clean), it is easy to get overconfident and feel as though you have beaten your addiction for good.
However, once you get out into the real world and have to go back to your everyday routine, surrounded by the people you used to drink or take drugs with, it can feel like a huge task to commit to staying sober.
But this is where your thinking needs to be realigned. You are not punishing or depriving yourself by staying clean, what you’re actually doing is looking after yourself and ensuring your life tomorrow, next week, next year and in the decades to come is one free from the slavery of addiction.
Excellent Reasons To Live A Sober Life
Because You’ve Put So Much Effort Into Getting Sober
There are only two ways that your addiction can end. Either you stay sober, or your life will end prematurely – the choice is that simple and that stark.
If you relapse into drinking or taking drugs again, you will have to go through the worst days of detox and recovery all over again so that your addiction doesn’t end up killing you.
If you think about where you were and, more importantly, how you were on your first day in rehab, you should be able to see just how far you have come. Don’t let a temporary wish for a drink or a hit set you back all that way.
Because You Owe It To Your Loved Ones
Chances are, whatever hell your addiction has put you through, it was a similar hell for your loved ones. Watching you come back from the brink and turn back into the honest, trustworthy, happy person that you were before will have helped them to heal almost as much as you have, and if you return to your addiction you will just break their hearts again.
One of the most important tools you can have at your disposal when in recovery is a support system. If you have people cheering you on and helping you through the worst days then you are far more likely to succeed.
Because You Deserve A Real Future
Addicts don’t have any chance of a real future, all they have to look forward to are the daily battles involved with feeding a relentless addiction. Everyone has hopes, dreams and ambitions and it is likely that you are no exception. Whilst you are deep in addiction it might feel as though there is no hope of you ever achieving those dreams, but once you are in recovery you have a very real chance of making them a reality.
How Can You Stay Sober After Rehab?
Make New Friends
One of the things that people in recovery find is a major trigger point for relapse is spending time with ‘drinking buddies’ – people who they previously would only have met up with to get drunk or high.
Depending on how deep into addiction you were before rehab, there’s a possibility that other, real, relationships might have fallen by the wayside and been replaced with these enablers.
Once you come out of rehab it is critical that you either reconnect with sober friends or find new friends that you don’t associate with using, and who won’t try to push you into drinking or taking drugs with them.
A healthy support system of sober friends will allow you to stay busy and get out of the house – boredom is just as big a pressure point for addiction as stress – and you can start to make new, sober memories for your new life.
Go To Meetings
Just because you are out of rehab doesn’t mean that you should stop having group meetings and therapy sessions. Your rehab centre might provide you with an aftercare programme to help you with this, but you can also help yourself by finding support groups in your city.
Almost every town or city has a drug or alcohol support group, which offers you a place where you can chat with other addicts and support each other through the more difficult times in your recovery.
Not only this, but the regular nature of the meetings forces you into a routine that revolves around staying clean, a constant reminder of what you are doing and why.
Relax
It is natural for people in recovery to throw themselves into everything and anything they can find in order to take their minds off of their addiction. Unfortunately, those with addictive personalities cannot risk throwing themselves wholeheartedly into anything, as they can easily form a dependence on this instead.
Not only this, but packing your schedule with activity can be fun at first, but inevitably will start to get to you as you try to fit everything in, causing the stress that is another major trigger for relapse.
If you are married to the idea of setting yourself a schedule then set time to relax as well as your other activities. This could be yoga or getting a massage but could be even simpler than that, perhaps a movie night with your partner, or even just an afternoon nap!
Set time limits to everything so that you still feel ordered but try to make sure that you really relax into the moment and aren’t just thinking about the next task.
Cassiobury Court offers dedicated rehabilitation services for a wide range of addictions, which includes a 12-month aftercare programme, during which clients are able to contact a member of the team 24 hours a day for support. A range of therapies and activities are provided during your time in rehab, to help you to develop coping skills for life on the outside, and make it that much easier for you to stay clean once you have left.
Contact Cassiobury Court on 01923 369161 or you can text HELP to 83222.
