These days, it seems that everywhere you look, someone is in recovery from drugs and alcohol abuse. You can’t flip on the television, check your email, or even buy groceries without being bombarded with tabloids and headlines boasting the next celebrity rehab fail or relapse. When shed in such a volatile light, it can be difficult to form a knowledgeable opinion on rehab and the recovery process. So – let’s clear the air, shall we? Take a peek up from your Us Weekly and a read through these three things we bet you didn’t know about the first year of recovery from drugs and alcohol.
3 Surprising Things About Recovery From Drugs and Alcohol
Everything will change (if you let it)
As an addict, allowing change into your life can be a big proponent of the recovery process and not just with the addiction itself. Your entire life will change. From bidding adieu to your addiction to saying sayonara to your enabling friends to changing the way you look at life in general – you’re about to experience the biggest overhaul of your life and there is no way to really prepare for the change that is coming. Those in recovery are more likely to relapse if they don’t accept that change is a key ingredient in the recovery process, so the sooner you accept it the sooner you will reach sobriety.
There is no perfect path
40-60% of people in recovery relapse within the first year and while you shouldn’t count yourself out, keeping a perpetual eye on your potential relapse can land you right where you don’t want to be. It’s natural to be afraid of things not working out but the more you meditate on it, the more likely it is to happen and it is what therapists call a negative self fulfilling prophecy.
Another thing; relapse does not equate to failure. Many addicts will relapse and see it as a sign to just give up, that maybe the sober life just isn’t meant for them but this couldn’t be any less the case. Relapse does not mean you have failed, it doesn’t mean you need to start all over, and it doesn’t mean that your treatment isn’t working. When you relapse, try to look at it as another step toward your life of sobriety. Reflect on what happened and how you can do it differently should you be faced with the decision again in the future.
Living life in recovery is a process
In the beginning, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the planning of your drug addiction recovery. You’ve got your drug addiction treatment plan and all your goals are in place and though you are scared, you’re more excited than anything. But then you make a rookie mistake. You start looking at what other people are doing and you compare your recovery path to theirs. It is important to understand that recovery is a daily process and everyone has their own path that may differ greatly from the next persons. Take it one day at a time, put one foot in front of the other, and focus on your recovery.