Recovery is a challenging time in life, especially early on when the experience of prolonged addiction is still fresh and tough on the mind. Aside from being physically addictive, drug use often creates a psychological or emotional dependence on the substance as a form of coping in times of hardship.
For most, fighting an addiction counts as a stressful life experience – old memories come flooding back, temptations and cravings make life a constant challenge, and you find yourself struggling to cope with emotions that you have spent a long time trying to drown out, perhaps without even knowing it.
Developing an addiction to a drug causes the brain to change and creates pathways that manipulate the way you think and feel. Yet despite this, drugs are an amazing short-term coping mechanism. They allow you to forget, drown out, and generally deal with nearly anything. At least, for a few hours.
After that, however, everything gets worse. As such, most illicit drugs (and some legal ones) count as maladaptive coping mechanisms, helping you escape trouble without doing anything to deal with the issue at hand. When you go into recovery, you cut this out of your life – for the better, in the long-term, but at the cost of feeling inexplicably terrible for quite some time in the beginning.
This seems like the absolute worst time in your life to start making other changes. After all, piling a challenge onto another challenge would just serve to burn you out, right? Well, in the case of recovery, making positive life changes – specific ones – could actually boost your chances of a successful recovery from addiction, and help you carve out a life free from drugs. A life you can be happy with, a life that prepares you to cope with any trouble without having to turn back to old habits. Here is how.
Making Changes in Life Can Improve Recovery
Many people struggle with recovery because of the fact that they often rely on addiction as a way to cope with problems in life. This leaves them unprepared for a large amount of stress, coupled with past regrets, self-doubt towards their own future, and the dread of facing a life filled with responsibility.
Making positive life changes can help shift a person’s perspective and, most importantly, equip them with the emotional tools they need to handle the challenges they are facing and are about to face.
Perspective is important. For some, sobriety is a new lease on life, the ability to make better choices and stay true to your promises. However, for many others, living a happy sober life might seem impossible. Instead, they see it as unavoidable, a life-long penance for their sins. This is arguably the worst way to approach your sober future.
Perspective helps – by approaching sobriety as an opportunity rather than a judgment, you can relieve yourself of a lot of sorrow and anger. There are many ways to enjoy life, and very few of them involve making your way to the bottom of a bottle. By embracing your recovery as the time to shift focus onto something better in life, you move away from a completely negative view of your life, and find hope where there was none before. This is a great first step.
From there, it is just a matter of figuring out what to change – and why.
Exercise, Diet, and Addiction
If you have never particularly liked the treadmill, or dreaded PE class, then the idea of exercising to help with recovery is more like throwing napalm into a forest fire. However, exercise does help – and it does not have to involve a lot of cardio or doing circuit training in the basketball court. Any form of active movement, from going hiking to doing rounds in an Olympic pool or playing water polo, counts as exercise. Even more unconventional forms of exercise, like dancing or combat sports, can work as amazing stress management techniques while doubling as a great help for recovery.
This is because, as mentioned previously, perspective is important to getting through the early stages of recovery and beyond. And the best way to help shift your perspective to a more positive note is by being more positive – getting a regular hit of dopamine through exercise can help tremendously, even if the first few weeks might feel a bit rough.
The key with making it all last is finding something you actually enjoy. Don’t write something off without at least trying it – from hitting the weight room to exploring the ins and outs of competitive rowing, try your way through different forms of exercise until you find something you legitimately enjoy.
Aside from bringing a better mood to the table through dopamine releases, exercise can work as a positive coping mechanism, and the fact that it keeps you feeling fit and looking great can be a great confidence boost, too. Just don’t overdo it – too much exercise is still a bad thing.
The same rules apply for eating. Addicts are not known for particularly good physical health, largely because addiction makes it difficult to keep track of what you’re supposed to be eating, and when you’re supposed to be eating. But don’t force yourself to gorge on salads or follow a fad diet to lose your extra pounds, or put on some more – instead, go for a healthy and balanced diet that you can afford, and enjoy. There are plenty of resources online to help you cook your way to a better you.
Finding New Hobbies in Early Sobriety
Exercise is one thing, but if you’re not totally crazy about how you get your weekly exercise in, then you need another hobby to focus on. Having more than one hobby does not hurt, either, and they’re a good way to fill time between work, sleep, and therapy sessions. You could try to pick up old hobbies and continue where you left off, or explore new alternatives.
Having hobbies might be difficult at first, especially when it feels like nothing quite sticks. Keep trying – early recovery is a weird time for the mind, and with a little bit of patience, you will find yourself in a better place.
A Chance At A Better Future
The road to recovery is quite long, and very bumpy. While being positive and hopeful about the future has its perks, there will be days when you’re not quite feeling good. There is no shame in that – optimism only goes so far. While making positive life changes can help make recovery easier, it won’t necessary be “easy” – thus, remember to take time and rely on other people from time to time, especially in the beginning.
Find groups to stick to, be with friends and family, and accept that it is okay to be vulnerable sometimes. It does get easier.