So you’ve been discharged after a successful in-patient rehabilitation – congratulations! Now, pause for a second and consider the following questions:
What’s next after completing your treatment program? Without daily intensive treatment sessions, how can you stay sober in the long run? How do others cope with reintegration into their everyday lives?
For a topic that proves the success of an addiction treatment program, maintaining long-term sobriety isn’t talked about often.
One of the first hurdles that recovering addicts face is life outside a rehab facility. With no rules, unrestricted access to drugs or alcohol, and a lack of treatment programs, maintaining sobriety becomes difficult, but not impossible.
As your in-patient rehab program comes to an end, how do you maintain your newly found sobriety and avoid relapse?
It starts with one belief – sobriety is a journey, not a destination.
Sobriety Is a Journey, Not a Destination
Unrealistic expectations would kill your sobriety faster than anything else. You have a better chance of remaining sober if you know what to expect.
First, rehab isn’t a magical cure-all for addiction. If it were, there wouldn’t be any relapses. Approximately 60 days of intense therapy and counseling within a restricted environment doesn’t instill sobriety for the long haul. It doesn’t stop the craving for alcohol or drugs, but it teaches you how to manage the craving without giving in to it.
All recovered addicts know that sobriety is a choice, a decision you have to make every day, and just like every decision, it isn’t always easy to make the right ones all the time.
Some days can be easy, while others can test your sobriety. The key to maintaining long-term sobriety is knowing that sobriety is a lifestyle and a lifelong journey. But there are tips to make the journey of sobriety an easy one.
Tips for Maintaining Sobriety After Rehab
It is difficult to provide a blueprint for addiction recovery and sobriety because each individual’s struggles are different. What works for individual A might not work for B and C.
But with more research targeted towards long-term sobriety and the factors that affect it positively, a rusty blueprint is finally emerging.
Here are some tips that have helped recovering addicts stay sober:
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Be Kind to Yourself
Let’s face it; you’re going to have bad days when you feel like you want to slip up and have a drink or pop some pills. Don’t let these thoughts (or one mistake) become a full-blown relapse.
Be kind to yourself on those days, and remember that you are only human. Don’t give in to the temptation to continue down that road. Every new day is a chance to pledge to your sobriety again. If you fall off the wagon today, get back on it tomorrow.
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Support
Recovering addicts who have been sober for years would tell you how important a support system is in maintaining long-term sobriety.
There are days when staying true to your sobriety pledge would be difficult. This is where a strong support system comes in – they remind you of what is important on the days when you can’t remember them yourself.
This support system could be friends, family, or a community of fellow recovering addicts.
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Consider How Far You’ve Come
One particular study on the pathways to long term sobriety revealed that a substantial factor affecting long-term sobriety is the fear of losing progress.
Sobriety is a lifelong journey, and no matter how far you are from home, the starting point is always a worse place to be.
Remembering how much of your progress you could lose with one wrong decision is enough to help you overcome it. So whenever the craving gets too bad, think of how much you stand to lose.
Periodic counseling also helps in pursuing long-term sobriety. And what better place to get counseling than a treatment center?
Enlight Treatment Center Focuses on Long Term Sobriety
Enlight Treatment Center is one of the top addiction treatment centers in California.
We believe in the individual-oriented treatment and have several treatment programs to that effect. Reach out to us today for help with your addiction!
