Recovery from drug or alcohol addiction is an ongoing process of incorporating positive changes into one’s life. Positive thinking, emotions and behaviors help keep a person’s recovery strong. They also bring value and joy to life. Recovery from drug or alcohol addiction involves honesty, motivation, commitment and learning responsible behaviors. Long-term recovery involves building solid habits of self-care for a lifetime.
Being on Guard
Recovery from drug or alcohol addiction involves being on guard against negative thoughts, emotions or behaviors. The earlier those problems are identified, the better. Once identified, a person can take the appropriate steps to remedy them.
Drug and alcohol treatment centers assist a person in identifying one’s problematic or irrational thoughts, emotions and behaviors. In treatment, a person will begin to learn how to replace negative patterns with positive ones, building a foundation for successful recovery.
Common Challenges in Recovery
Here are just a few problematic patterns that almost every person in recovery will face at some point. They must be addressed in order to maintain a healthy recovery.
- Avoiding daily responsibilities at home or work.
- Experiencing cravings and urges to drink or use drugs again.
- Feeling angry, resentful and sorry for self.
- Feeling bored, having low energy, losing interest in things and not having fun.
- Resisting asking for help when needed and spending too much time alone.
Building Long-Term Recovery
Every person in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction must learn what his or her own negative patterns are and then have a specific plan of action for dealing with them. Plans of action will differ from person to person but the goal of any plan is to interrupt problematic patterns before they take control and veer a person off course.
Being persistent with incorporating positive thoughts, emotions and behaviors into each and every day will significantly influence a person’s recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. Over time having positive thoughts, emotions and behaviors will become ingrained and will play a significant role in strengthening a person’s recovery for life.
