The recovery process is a massive undertaking in which we’re tested mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. We’re healing wounds that have been with us for much of our lives. We’re facing deeply rooted fears many of which have been with us since childhood. We’re learning how to retrain our minds and forming new thought patterns, making healthier choices for ourselves, and working to maintain our sobriety. All of the healing work we do can leave us feeling overwhelmed, drained and defeated. We feel exhausted and depleted of hope and motivation. When we’re in this place, it can feel impossible to stay on track with our recovery goals and to stay committed to all of the intentions we’ve set for ourselves. We also are coming out of years of struggling to take care of ourselves and feeling as though it was impossible to do what we knew was best for ourselves. We’ve experienced years of struggling to set goals and being unable to follow through with them. We may have tried to get clean countless times and been unable to. Part of our healing work is learning how to stay on track with our recovery goals so that we can overcome all of the challenges that are part of the recovery process.
One of the hardest parts of recovery is how common it is to relapse. We’ve spent so long working towards recovery, even accomplishing sobriety, only to experience disappointment, shame and embarrassment of relapse We feel we’ve let ourselves down along with the people we love. We’ve fallen short of our goals, and we feel as though we’ve failed. Oftentimes we’re optimistic and positive when going into recovery, feeling confident and self-assured in our ability to stay sober. A relapse can be debilitating. We often will fall into a depression, along with other mental health issues, experiencing sadness, anxiety, hopelessness and panic. Relapse can make us feel as though our world is falling apart. We’ve lost faith in ourselves. We don’t know how to crawl out of the dark hole we’ve fallen into, much less how to stay on track with our goals.
To help ourselves get back to ourselves, and get back to the goals and intentions we’ve set for ourselves, one of the best things we can do is surround ourselves with people who can help us stay aligned with the vision we have for ourselves. When we feel lost and as though we’ve fallen off course, loved ones can help remind us of who we are and what we want from life. They can help show us the way back to sobriety. Part of our recovery work is making connections with others also in recovery. We can help each other prioritize getting clean and be a positive influence on each other. We can motivate and push each other whenever we’re feeling low and disheartened. It can be difficult to stay on track when we feel isolated and alone. Our confusion and overwhelm can be exacerbated when we’re trying to cope with them alone. Being surrounded by other people in recovery who can understand us and relate to us helps us to keep moving forward. Other people’s compassion and empathy can give us the reassurance and support we need. We also want to take full advantage of the recovery community we’re creating for ourselves by asking a sponsor, friend or recovery coach to help us improve our accountability by having regular check-ins with us. We can give them regular updates, and check in regularly with our support groups. We can work consistently with a therapist. When we feel responsible to someone outside of ourselves, we’re reminded just how important our sobriety is. We see firsthand that it’s so much bigger than us. We’re not just doing it for ourselves, we’re doing it for our family, friends and loved ones who are a huge part of our motivation to get sober. Our connection with other people and our commitment to them can help us maintain the accountability and responsibility we need to keep ourselves on track with our goals.
When we set goals for ourselves, we can often be overwhelmed with everything we want to do and accomplish. We’re creating new habits and setting new routines for ourselves, and we often are so eager to move forward with our sobriety that we try to do everything all at once. Sometimes this can just be too much for us. It’s similar to the new year, when we’re excited to make resolutions around all the changes we want to make in our lives, but we attempt to take on more than we can sustain at once. To stay on track with our recovery, we want to get very clear on which changes we want to make. We want to be as specific as possible, and choose a small number of changes to focus on at a time, rather than trying to undertake too much all at once. To help ourselves get clear and stay organized, we can try writing down all of our goals and intentions. The process of writing down our goals and reading them regularly helps to imprint them on our subconscious mind, aligning our energy to help us stay on track with them, as we work to make important changes in our lives and make our sobriety a reality for ourselves.
At The Guest House Ocala, we have personal recovery experience and over 12 years in the recovery industry. We have helped countless people recover, and we’re here to help you too. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.