Woman standing on a golden hay field. Original public domain image from Wikimedia Commons
Recovery is a lifelong process filled with many high and low moments. Recovery is not always easy, just like treatment was not always easy. You worked through some tough and deep trauma to get to where you are today.
For some, early recovery can be a frightening time. You desperately want to make all of the right choices, healthy decisions, and actions that keep moving you towards your goals.
Learning to understand your specific triggers and setting appropriate boundaries is key to your success. As you begin to enter recovery, work on discovering what motivates you. Strong motivation can help you to maintain your sobriety. Here are a few different tips that may help you to stay motivated.
Your Health
Addiction dramatically affects your health. Experiencing the constant roller coaster of consuming and withdrawing from your substance of choice probably significantly impacted your physical and mental health. Remembering how you felt when you were experiencing active addiction is important. While it is great to move forward, remembering the past can be a huge motivator.
As you exit treatment and reenter society, you will begin to live your life again. You have all of the freedom that you choose. With that freedom comes the immense task of making the right choices for your health. Let your health motivate you to keep moving forward with your recovery and sobriety.
Create goals that focus on your health. Where do you want to see your health a year from now? What do you never want to feel like again? Developing and maintaining good health can be a powerful motivation to keep you pushing through the tough choices you may need to make.
Family and Friends
Let your family and friends motivate you. Addiction probably had a considerable impact on your relationships. Many relationships may have suffered or completely ended as you experienced active addiction. You probably also had relationships that only centered around your addiction.
Now that you are in recovery, you probably have discovered which relationships were healthy and which were not healthy. Let relationships motivate you to maintain your sobriety and work through recovery.
Life’s Purpose
Work on finding a purpose in life. When you have a strong purpose in life, it will motivate you to focus on your recovery and sobriety.
Everyone will have a unique purpose driving them forward. It is normal if your life’s purpose looks completely different than another person’s life purpose. Figure out what you connect with. What makes you want to be a better person or help others?
Addiction makes it difficult to find a purpose. For the most part, your purpose was centered around your substance of choice. Your actions and your thoughts stayed with obtaining and using the substance. You probably did not make any long-term plans or goals.
Now that you have worked through treatment and found your sobriety, you can devote your time and energy to looking beyond your addiction and discovering your true purpose.
Helping Others
Your sobriety can help others. You have gone through an immense journey. Working to get to sobriety is huge. You put the effort in and fought through the hard days. It was not always fun. However, your sobriety journey not only benefits you but also can help others.
Share your story with other people. Include the good and the bad, the easy days and the hard days. Your story can show others that recovery is possible. It can instill hope. Let that ability to help others help you through your tough days. Let that motivate you to push harder and face your challenges head-on.
Your Career
Let your career motivate you to continue with your sobriety. Create goals specific to your career. Where do you want to see yourself in a year? What about five years?
Your addiction may have affected your career in some way. It may have hindered your ability to better yourself or strive to hit higher goals. Let your career opportunities motivate you to keep pushing forward and face your challenges head-on.
You have many opportunities at your disposal now that you are living a healthier lifestyle. Remember where you started, and focus on where you are trying to go.
Consider Faith
For some, having a strong faith can be excellent motivation. Faith can look different for everyone. Remember that you do not need to fill any mold. Discover what you believe in and what makes you feel good and whole. Reach out to others who have varying religious views and learn from them. Explore and learn. After learning about different faiths, see what resonates with you.
Finding motivation in recovery is vital. Recovery can be a fantastic time filled with exploration and learning. You can put into place everything you learned in treatment. The skills and tools you spent so much time learning are now part of your life. However, recovery is not always an easy time. Find motivation to keep moving you forward toward your goals. You may find motivation in your health. Other people may find motivation in supporting others struggling with addiction, faith, or their career. Discover what gets you through your most challenging days. Everyone’s motivation will look slightly different. Follow your own path, and discover what you need. Here at The Guest House, we know recovery can be challenging and sometimes stressful. There is so much to learn and discover. We are here to support you every step of the way. Call us today at (855) 483-7800 to learn more about how we can support you.