Recovery can be a difficult journey, but it can be much more rewarding if you feel like you are discovering and fulfilling your life’s purpose. Having a purpose can give you a sense of meaning and stability. It can also help you make serious progress towards lasting sobriety.
How Your Life’s Purpose Can Aid in Recovery
Having purpose and meaning in life has a multitude of benefits. Purpose and meaning can support your physical and mental health and also help you overcome challenges along the way.
According to a 2013 study published in PLoS One, having a purpose in life may help you reframe negative situations and “deal with them more productively.” This can facilitate recovery from stress and trauma and help you overcome the negative thoughts and feelings that often come up in addiction treatment.
A New Direction
Many people who experience addiction devote much of their lives to finding and using substances. When you choose to heal and enter recovery, you may find yourself feeling lost and with more time on your hands than ever before.
Having a life’s purpose can actually help you embrace these changes. Your purpose will allow you to rebuild your life and begin moving in a new direction.
When you have big goals and feel a sense of deeper meaning in your world, it can help you create an entirely new sense of self. That self can be the version of you who is healed and addiction-free.
Benefits of Having a Purposeful Life
Studies have shown that having a sense of purpose can create many positive changes in your life. Having a purpose can even help you maintain good health as you enter your older adult years.
According to a 2019 article in Frontiers in Psychology, having a purpose is “one of the most fundamental human needs.” Unfortunately, many people feel lost and without purpose, especially in the modern world with its many distractions.
Having a purpose can help you experience better mental health and decreased feelings of depression and anxiety. What’s more, having a purpose decreases mortality rates. The importance of a life’s purpose shouldn’t be underestimated, especially as a tool for recovery.
Discovering Your Life’s Purpose
According to the aforementioned PLoS One study, purpose in life refers to the “tendency to derive meaning from life’s experiences.” Having a purpose brings about a sense of intentionality and direction.
It’s also possible for your life to have many different “purposes” at different times. For example, becoming a parent or grandparent, having a business you love, and even working to achieve sobriety can all give you purpose and meaning in your life. Hobbies, careers, jobs, exercise, self-care time, travel, and spiritual connection are more examples of endeavors that can bring more purpose into your life.
Life Crafting
The Frontiers in Psychology article lays out evidence-based ways to find your purpose through a process the authors call “life crafting.” This process includes reflection on your values, passions, and goals, along with other “positive psychology intervention techniques.”
To try life crafting, you can buy a journal and begin exploring your values and passions in life. Do you like writing, art, or music? Perhaps you enjoy hands-on work like building houses or working on cars. You may even want to think about struggles in life that you have overcome and turn your wounds into wisdom to help others.
Connect to Your Future Self
One of the most powerful ways to discover your life’s purpose is to connect with your future self. Your future self is the version of you who is living their most joyful, happy, and healthy life.
A good place to start is to think about how your future self will feel. Maybe they feel feelings like happiness, peace, or fulfillment. You can write down these feelings in your journal and then ask yourself what activities, hobbies, or passions will help you get to the place where you’re able to feel the same.
Feelings and emotions are a great way to help you anchor into your future self’s life. The more you understand these feelings and learn how to begin activating them in the present moment, the easier it will become to achieve the goal of the future you have painted.
Finding Your Life’s Purpose at The Guest House
Recovery can feel like a lonely journey, especially if you’re without purpose or direction. At The Guest House, we are here to help you find your life’s purpose, one step at a time.
Our wide variety of therapies are not just here to help you heal. They also can help you find a new passion or hobby, which, in turn, can give your life more meaning. Modalities like meditation, breathwork, adventure therapy, and art in healing will help you find yourself again. You can explore fun and exciting new ways to overcome your struggles and bring fulfillment into your life.
Spirit2Spirit Program
Having a life’s purpose encompasses much more than just having a career or hobby you enjoy. A wonderful way to find more meaning in life is to connect with yourself on a spiritual level. The Guest House’s Spirit2Spirit program is the perfect place to start rediscovering this connection.
Many addiction and mental health conditions can usually be traced back to some kind of trauma that happened in the past. At The Guest House, we refer to this trauma collectively as “soul wounds.” Our founders created the globally renowned Spirit2Spirit Healing program to help you overcome these wounds and find more purpose in your life.
Right now you may feel stuck in life or disconnected from yourself. It’s important to understand that these feelings are actually the first part of your journey. Once you begin to identify what you truly desire in life, you can begin to find more joy and fulfillment. At The Guest House, we can help get you there.
Having a life’s purpose can go a long way in your journey of overcoming addiction and finding long-term sobriety. At The Guest House, we employ a wide variety of therapies and modalities to help you reconnect with yourself and find more meaning in your life. At our facility, you can explore new hobbies that can turn into passions. We also encourage all of our guests to set goals and intentionally explore the things that will make them happiest in life. Our Spirit2Spirit program is also an excellent tool to help you overcome soul wounds and find more purpose in your life. For more information, give us a call today at (855) 483-7800.