A relapse can happen to anybody in any type of addiction whether it’s drug addiction, food addiction, unhealthy love addiction, gambling and so on. Not everyone is able to stop the first time and never go back to it again. The key to making it past a relapse and recovering in one piece is that you have to be forgiving to yourself. The following are four things you should do to get back on track after a relapse:
- Get back up
- Gather support
- Strategize
- Get more support
Dust Yourself Off and Try Again
That old saying rings so true. You must learn how to accept the relapse, forgive yourself for making the mistake and then move on to your next attempt at staying clean, sober, free of bad relationships or what have you. As the saying says, dust yourself off and try again. Make an effort to tackle it next time. That’s all you can do.
Call Your Support System
The next step is getting a support system in place ASAP. You may have some friends or family members who want to help you through your relapse recovery. You may have met some people in a rehabilitation center or something like that. Start contacting them and keeping them close to you either on the phone or in person. Go out and have a friends’ night out and encourage each other to stay healthy. Let those people act as your accountability partners as you get back on track. Recovery is much better when there is more than one person looking out for you. Don’t be too shy to put together a huge group of people if that’s what you need to get your self together.
Develop Some Relapse Prevention Strategies
You and your group should strategize and put together a nice recovery plan. Think of activities that you can do to cause a mental diversion any time you get a craving for what it is that you are addicted to. The diversion will grab your brain’s attention, and it will work to fill the little gaps in your plan. Try to replace your activities with something that is extremely beneficial to your health like a fitness or exercise program. You will feel better once you’ve done that.
Join a Support Group
Joining a support group is one of the best things that you can do to combat the effects of falling into the relapse. Support groups allow you to meet once a week and talk about what’s going on in your life. If you struggled with a relapse, you can speak to someone about that. Maybe some of the people in the group can give you some tips on how to regain your footing once you slip. Support groups are great because they consist of people who are just like you. You can broaden your existing support group by visiting one of these.
Those are just some basic tips for recovering after a relapse. Remember through it all that you are only human, and you are blessed even if you don’t quite make it the first time. Every new day is a new change to get refined and perfected in the right path. Don’t spend time dwelling on the relapse when you can get better.