There is a reason why the relapse statistic is quite high when looking at the numbers in addiction recovery, and that reason isn’t a matter of willpower or a lack of personal responsibility – it is a testament to the fact that relapses are part of the recovery process, and they’re common in early recovery even when trying to actively prevent relapse.
That doesn’t make them a good thing. However, neither does a relapse signal the total failure of your recovery process. Trying to prevent relapses from occurring first requires an understanding of what they are, why they occur, and what causes them. It also takes time and patience. While recovery is all about growing, early recovery can be a time of fragile emotions and mood swings. The body, the brain, and the psyche must get used to long term sobriety, and the stress of not only staying sober but dealing with life’s many complications and challenges along the way while working through the issues that an addiction tends to bottle up and bury inside you.
It’s a highly emotional experience, and everyone struggling with addiction goes through it in their own, unique way. Some struggle far more with the emotional aspect of addiction than others. Others struggle with physical dependence.
Understand What A Relapse Means
Relapses, like addiction itself, are learning experiences, moments wherein we can potentially discover new ways to control our behavior, focus our thoughts, and learn a bit more about ourselves. When a relapse does happen, it’s typically due to a trigger. Identifying the trigger and avoiding it during early recovery can prevent relapse, and later, provide the potential for growth by overcoming the old memory.
The most important thing to know about relapses is that they’re not the end of your journey. Think of them as speed bumps, obstacles in the road that slow your progress but only temporarily.
Relapses occur because the relationship between the brain and addictive substances is immensely strong. People spend years struggling with addiction not because it’s so much fun to fight your way through the emotional roller coaster and host of physical withdrawal symptoms repeatedly, but because being a functioning human being in society requires staying sober long enough to get things done. They sacrifice and sacrifice for weeks, months and years, and some people have entire families depending on the success of their recovery.
Addiction hooks its claws into your brain and your mind, creating a hole for itself that is hard to fill out again. Learning to prevent relapse can teach you more about how to slowly undo that grasp, and replace the void in your mind with new, awesome experiences and fresh living sensations.
Find New People To Hang Out With
One of the first things to do when deciding for a life of sobriety is some self-reflection. This involves figuring out what aspects of your life are worth keeping, and what aspects should be abandoned. For the most part, it can mean entirely changing your definition of friendship – and who you are friends with. Announce your decision to go clean and stay clean, and see how many of your friends are willing to support you and respect your decision to prevent relapse, so much so that they’d be willing to drop their own vices at least around you to avoid any complications.
In most cases, it’s for the best to cut off your relationships to anyone who got you involved in drugs, from booze to harder things, and instead focus on making new friends. Fresh new friendships can make early recovery much more bearable, help prevent relapse, and be far more interesting than forcing yourself through the first few months all on your own. Aside from providing immense amounts of support, new friends can bring excitement and new perspectives into your life. They can replace the temptation to drink or use with the temptation to learn more, try new things, and meet more people, all while helping to prevent relapse.
The trick is figuring out where to find new people to hang out with. You have several options depending on what you’re most comfortable with. If approaching strangers in the real world at the gym or in malls is too frank or forward for you, then consider the advantages of anonymity and distance in the online medium. Meeting people through the Internet is no longer strange, but has rather become the norm with the rise of blogging and social media.
Find New Places To Hang Out At
Aside from finding new people to spend time with, another solid way to avoid the triggers of the past in early recovery is to find new places for new memories. Consider making a routine for yourself involving a part of town you usually don’t spend much time in. Hit the gym if you don’t already, and visit parks. If you can afford the time and money spent on it, get a pet like a dog for both the companionship and the excuse to go on long walks. The responsibility of taking care of a pet and the stimulation of a daily walk can keep your mind off the need to use, and give you a calming way to remain stress-free.
Avoid dive bars, raves, dance clubs and the homes of friends who still use drugs. Instead, look towards new ways to spend your weekends and nights – sober raves are an option, or you could enlist in workshops, meet new people and learn new things.
Join A Sober Living Home To Help Prevent Relapse
Sober living homes, or a sober living community, are facilities dedicated to providing strictly sober lodging to people out of rehab looking for a way to integrate back into life and prevent relapse. Sober living facilities have a few general rules that differ from home to home, but for the most part, they involve having a strict curfew, a no-tolerance anti-drug policy, mandatory unannounced drug testing and the requirement of either being in school, having a job, or looking for either. These are homes designed to both get people back on their feet while giving them an environment in which they can live among others who are struggling with addiction, so the residents can bond and share their experiences and learn new things from each other.
People all have one reason or another to turn back to drugs, and convincing themselves otherwise will take time. With time, you won’t have to actively prevent relapse anymore – you’ll be able to live life fully, knowing you have it in you to achieve and maintain long-term sobriety even if the worst happens and you find yourself back at square one. Because recovery only ends when you give up on yourself in the fight against addiction and let it end you instead.