The turn of the new year is a time to reflect on your choices and start anew. If you have substance use disorder (SUD), you might be extra hard on yourself when you don’t feel like you’ve changed and grown enough. Unfortunately, this perception can prevent you from feeling confident as you start the new year. Despite how it feels, you’ve likely made more progress in your addiction treatment than you’re willing to give yourself credit for. This blog will help you reflect on your progress and identify the steps you’ve taken toward recovery.
Reflecting on Your Addiction Treatment Progress
A large part of reaching recovery involves participating in a substance abuse treatment program. Additionally, it often involves participating in aftercare treatment. For many, this looks like attending therapy and a support group like SMART Recovery once a week. No matter where you are in your addiction treatment progress, it’s important to reflect on where you started and where you are now. Ultimately, understanding your progress allows you to feel confident in the decisions you make going forward.
12 Questions for Reflection
If you’re struggling to begin reflecting, it can help to pull out something to write on. You can then work through some of these questions.
#1 What coping skills have you learned in addiction treatment?
#2 How have you strengthened your sobriety?
#3 Have you made any sober friends?
#4 What triggers do you need to be careful to avoid?
#5 How difficult has addiction treatment felt for you?
#6 What’s one time you’ve felt confident in addiction treatment?
#7 Have you handled setbacks in healthy ways?
#8 What behaviors have you changed to support your recovery?
#9 How did you practice self-compassion this week?
#10 What are three ways you’ve improved since starting addiction treatment?
#11 Who in your life supports your recovery, and who’s a threat to it?
#12 What’s motivated you to stay sober?
As you write answers to these questions, allow yourself to recognize how much you’ve changed already. Then, try to remember that growing and healing is an ongoing process that occurs throughout your whole life. You’ve already made so many steps forward in the addiction treatment process just by being there.
Starting the New Year Right
Now that you’ve answered some reflective questions, you may see yourself in a different light. Just like everyone else, you have strengths and weaknesses. You’ve made progress in the right direction, though. As you move into the new year, you can start by creating goals for your addiction treatment and recovery. Rather than generic New Year’s resolutions, your goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART). SMART goals will help you ensure you’re continuing to make progress in the new year.
When you’re going through addiction treatment, it’s important to allow yourself reflective moments. This will help you recognize how far you’ve come and where you want to go. The turn of the new year is a great time to reflect and set goals. As discussed, your goals should be SMART to produce the best results. At The Guest House, we can help you set and achieve your sobriety goals. If your progress has plateaued elsewhere, you can start addiction treatment with our team. With our comprehensive treatment plans, you’ll make strides. Call us today at (855) 483-7800.