The cycle of addiction is a devious one. When you quit using, your body begins sending you constant reminders of just how great it is to use. Moreover, as if that was not enough, your mind starts to go haywire, struggling to find a good way to cope with your life without drugs. It, too, wants to go back to how things were just a little while ago.
For a time, you will be fighting against your mind and your body. What is a person, if not mind and body? Fighting against addiction is not quite as simple as just making a choice to be a better person, and stop using. It is as difficult as giving up water, or going without food for weeks. Cravings, like hunger and thirst, constantly work to remind you how much easier it is to use and be happy. At least, for a time.
It passes. Unlike hunger and thirst, which can kill you, your body and mind eventually get over their losses and go back to being somewhat normal. It takes drugs anywhere from a few hours to about a month to leave your body, varying from drug to drug. While the effects only last a few hours, your system can take weeks to process a drug completely. Meanwhile, it takes at least a few months for the brain to recover from drug use, and about year for it to recover as much as possible.
It is a long time, but the cravings do go away. After that, all that is left are memories that might tempt you and pull you back into old habits, but they are much easier to manage, and fight back.
The trouble, however, is fighting against these cravings early on while they are at their strongest, especially when you find yourself surrounded by temptation.
Find Things To Do
Boredom is the beginning of many regretful things – when you are not sure what you should be doing, your mind begins to wander and come to mischievous conclusions. If you find yourself finding time to think about addiction, try to block it out by doing as much as possible, especially early on. Go to meetings, visit places, meet up with sober friends, and exhaust yourself as much as possible day after day.
More than just finding ways to block out thoughts of addiction, taking it upon yourself to do new things can be a great way to help your recovery. By finding new hobbies and new ways to relieve stress and energy, you build the base you need for a healthy life long after the initial period of recovery.
So visit new places, try out new things, and generally figure out what you want to do with your life now that addiction is out of the picture. Filling that void that drugs left as soon as possible is a good way to fortify your sobriety, and bring the kind of value to your life that you need in order to hold onto it when it counts the most.
Make a Schedule, and Stick To It
Spontaneously looking for new experiences is great when you are not sure what to do with your time, but once you find a rhythm, it is important to stick to it. Consider making a strict schedule for yourself – from waking up to heading to bed – and stick to it day after day.
Schedules can help immensely early on, giving you the structure you need to rely on, especially in times when nothing else seems reliable. Having a solid timetable to stick to can give you comfort and security, and you will never have a moment left to wonder what it is you should be doing next.
Seek Support From Others
While recovery is a path you ultimately have to walk alone, that does not mean you are in this completely on your own. In fact, a big part of successfully recovering from addiction is learning to seek help from others, and finding the key to staying sober lies in working together with others to support your own sobriety, and theirs.
By going to group therapy, making sober friends, and seeking help from friends and family, you can ensure that even if you are surrounded by temptation and find yourself struggling to resist, you can always call for help and get the affirmation you need to stay clean and stay sober.
Get New Friends, Move to New Places
Memories are a big obstacle when avoiding a relapse. They can come at the most inopportune times, and ruin an otherwise great day. While cravings that come out of nowhere trigger many relapses, other relapses are caused by memories, often coming from familiar places, familiar faces, and familiar sounds.
By moving away from these places, people, and memories, you can essentially start over and try to build a new and better sober life.
Of course, moving away is not an option for everyone, especially if you and your family are already rooted and settled. There are alternatives.
Enter Rehab or a Sober Living Home
When all else fails, it is time to rely on more than friends and family. Professional help and addiction treatment begins by taking a patient out of an environment of temptation, and bringing them into a place where they can focus on getting used to their sobriety.
If you have already been to rehab, or have spent time at a sober living community, consider going back. It does not hurt to enter sober living a second time around if you feel like you need some respite. Ultimately, you cannot live in a temptation-free environment forever – it would be like a prison – but there are times when getting away from temptation is the quickest and safest way to deal with it.
Keep working on your discipline, build up your hobbies, goals and relationships, and make sure that even outside of clinics and sober homes you have access to people who can help you stay sober when you desperately need their help. In time, you will stop worrying about the temptations, and instead just live your life and live it well.