How to Live a Healthy and Mindful Life
Free From Addiction
Suffering from addiction is like facing a storm that comes at you from all sides. Typically,people turn to addictive substances as a reprieve from some aspect of their life. This could be their mental health, it could be grief, it could be their personal circumstances. Regardless of what the initial trigger is, once you get deep enough into substance abuse, addiction is the likely outcome.
Once that happens, everything in you will physically rebel against getting sober. The relief and pleasure you get from another hit, or another drink, will seem like the better option than getting sober. Your brain will be physically addicted, and you’ll be mentally addicted to your crutch.
Getting out of the tangle that is addiction on your own is hard. Some may even say impossible. Getting help is the answer. Seeking out support from professionals, as well as your friends, family, and even others in recovery is essential. You may trip along the way, but so long as you stay committed and follow this guide you will be taking every step you can to reach a state of sobriety and reclaim your life:
Seek professional treatment
Try to swim across the ocean without a boat, and you are sure to drown. The same principle can be used for overcoming Addiction. Very, very few people can make it through to ongoing sobriety on their own. Seeking out help and going through the full process can do wonders to help you get sober and stay sober, and there are various levels of treatment plans to suit your individual situation.
Inpatient
If you have never met with any success getting sober on your own, or the issue is forced on you after an overdose, then the best way towards sobriety is through an intensive inpatient treatment program. It is ideal if you choose a treatment center that helps you go through the entire recovery process, so you can benefit from a stable environment instead of being shipped from facility to facility as you complete each step along the way.
Harris House, for example, offers an intensive inpatient treatment and even a Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) to help those going through a medical detox and experiencing withdrawals. After completing this intensive inpatient program you can then graduate to one of two options, depending entirely on the state of your addiction.
Outpatient
Once you are out of inpatient care, you will have two options. The first is to live at home and continue accessing treatment at the addiction treatment centre. The second is to live in subsidized housing. If you cannot trust yourself to stay sober on your own, even with individual and group therapy, or your home environment is a trigger, then subsidized housing programs can be the best fit for you.
Get your family on board
It may seem like a lot to ask your family to help you if you have already burned many bridges with them, but you owe it yourself, and them, to at least try. Many people are willing to forgive someone going through addiction once they have taken genuine steps towards sobriety. By attending Family Program sessions, your family’s members can learn more about addiction, and also about how to help you stay sober when at home. A supportive home environment is crucial for successful and ongoing recovery, and having your family with you through the process is a must.
Creating healthy environments
The last thing that you want is to come out of inpatient care or a housing program and go right back into a toxic environment. These environments encourage you to relapse either directly or indirectly. They are the worst places to be as a recovering addict, which is why you’ll want to create a healthy home environment with these two steps:
Remove toxic people from your life
If there is someone in your life that actively encourages you to fall off the wagon, you need to cut contact with them immediately. You might be able to reconnect later when they too have started to recover, but for now they are nothing more than a pathway back into addiction.
Toxic relationships of any kind are triggers. If there is someone who is overly critical or who makes you feel absolutely horrible about yourself – to the point where relapsing sounds wonderful – then you need to break off contact with them. They are just as bad triggers as someone who actively encourages you to relapse, and are unhealthy to have in your life sober, or not.
Relocate to a healthier location
Your home or town could also be a trigger if there are enough bad memories associated with the place. It is a lot easier to stay sober when you are in a new environment that doesn’t have any associated memories. That is why there are housing programs available with your treatment, to help you get back up on your feet in a new, healthy environment.
Healthy habits and hobbies to adopt
You’ll need new habits and hobbies to move past your addiction. Though you can get started in any activity, from knitting to hiking, the habits that will help you the most are:
Prepare healthy, home-cooked meals
The best place to start is to learn how to cook. Eating healthy meals several times a day does not have to be expensive; it just takes time. By teaching yourself how to cook you can make new friends with your housemates, improve your overall health, and feel incredible because of it.
Find a sport or team to join
Healthy connections are something else you will want to focus on, and if you exercise in the process, all the better. A sports team or volunteering opportunity are two great ways to build new, healthy social connections while getting out of the house. Volunteering can even help you rebuild your career by showing you can exercise responsibility and successfully manage to hold down a position, even if it is a non-paid one.
Living a healthy and mindful life after you recover from addiction may seem like a pipe dream when you first begin. Just continue to take one step at a time, and soon you’ll have built a life you are proud of living.
