Getting sober by stopping use of whatever substance you were abusing and then detoxing from it are both hard enough, but arguably the hardest part comes afterwards when you try to start fresh. You may still encounter cravings and feel a sense of loss when you step back into your old life and resume work or school. Addictions become habits and even when you’re free of the substance, the time you spent using them may look like a gaping hole in your life. The following are some tips to have a good addiction recovery. Remember, that after five years, relapse is rare.
Change Your Crowd
Most people who struggle with addiction do not do so in a vacuum. You probably had friends and a social circle who also abused. In order to give your recovery the best chance, you need to cut ties with anyone you know that is still abusing drugs or alcohol. Even if they say they support you, the truth is that they don’t and their lives are headed in opposite directions. Continuing to maintain such a social circle is putting you into grave temptation of reentering the world of addiction.
Find New Activities
While you were addicted, much of your life probably revolved around your substance abuse. Even when you weren’t actively using, you were probably thinking about using or obtaining the substance. That’s simply how addiction works. Now you have gaping holes in your time that you need to fill so you won’t think about whatever you were addicted to. Find new activities to fill these holes. Start a new hobby, pursue further education, start traveling, do volunteer work, or anything else that can fill your time with positive things.
Start An Exercise Routine
Similarly to finding new activities, you should also begin an exercise routine. Not only will it help you occupy time, but it will also help get your body back into good physical shape. Drug or alcohol use takes a terrible toll on physical health and even if you’re free of the substance, its effects can linger. Exercise also creates dopamine in the brain and helps boost your mood.
Eat Right
Like exercise, a good diet is crucial to addiction recovery. Start by cutting out junk food. Stop eating sugar and processed food, including unhealthy fats. Drink lots of water and emphasize eating vegetables and fruits over too much protein or processed carbs. Eating good food and not junk might be hard at first, but over time you will start craving healthy food instead of junk. A great way to eat better and find a new activity is to learn how to cook.
Don’t Skimp On Sleep
More than likely your sleep schedule while addicted wasn’t a healthy one so it’s important to reinstate a healthy one. Work on getting eight hours of sleep every night. You might be surprised to realize how much better you’ll feel with a good sleep every night.
Make Goals And Pursue Them
One of the most important things to do in addiction recovery is to make goals. Goals will give you something to work towards, look forward to and fill your time with. This is especially important if you spent your teens as an addict.
Be Honest
Struggling with addiction always involves lying. You end up lying to everyone, your friends, your coworkers, your family and even yourself. Recovering from addiction requires total honesty. It’s a common mistake in recovery to think that this means being honest about other people, but it’s actually being honest to other people and especially yourself.