Anyone who has struggled with addiction knows it can be hard to imagine what a future free from substance dependency looks like. It’s easy to let yourself be consumed by negative thoughts: “getting sober is too hard”, “only certain types of people have it in them to overcome addiction”, etc.
Remember, almost everyone who has recovered from addiction in their life has likely had similar thoughts at some point. With an unwavering commitment, we believe anyone can recover from addiction – and we believe recovery can last a lifetime.
What does the journey to lifelong recovery look like?
The road to lifelong recovery from addiction is different for everyone, and it’s often not a straight or easy one.
At some point in their journey, almost everyone experiences at least one significant challenge, be it repairing their relationships, finding a purpose in life, or even relapsing. Everyone’s journey to lifelong recovery looks different, but there’s one factor that all successfully recovered addicts share.
How to set yourself up to achieve lifelong recovery
Like we mentioned at the beginning of this post, the key to lifelong recovery is staying committed, no matter how many obstacles present themselves.
Of course, this is much easier said than done.
The first step to committing to yourself and recovering from your addiction is to believe that you are worth committing to. That in itself may be a challenge, but it forms the foundation for a strong self-commitment.
Next, accept that everything that happens in your life is your responsibility. While your addiction is an illness, it’s your responsibility to heal it. You may not be able to control your circumstances, but you can control what you do with those circumstances. 12-step programs are great for teaching participants how to develop a sense of personal responsibility.
Learn to accept your mistakes, past and future. Mistakes are a part of life for everyone, addict or not. When you make peace with your past mistakes, and accept that you’ll make mistakes again in the future, those future mistakes won’t seem like such a big deal when they inevitably do happen. You’ll be able to take them in stride instead of allowing them to ruin all progress you’ve made.
Practice gratitude. There’s a practice known as the law of attraction, which states that whatever someone is focusing on is what they’ll attract into our lives. So, if they’re dwelling on past mistakes, thinking they’re a failure, or believing there’s no way they can recover from their addiction, they’ll find circumstances arising in their life that reinforce those ways of thinking.
On the other hand, if someone is deeply grateful for the opportunity to get sober, for the people in their life that are supporting them to recover, or simply the fact they’re alive, they’ll find they’re attracting more situations for which they can be grateful.
All in all, lifelong recovery from addiction takes a lot of effort and isn’t always easy, but we believe it’s possible for everyone who is suffering.