Yesterday we talked about strength in recovery. When former addicts go to rehab, they think they’re weak. This might be true physically, because drug and alcohol abuse can hurt our physical strength.
On the other hand, former addicts are strong mentally. After all, people need great courage and strength to admit that they have problems. They need just as much courage and strength to commit to solve their drug and alcohol problems. Former addicts can measure this strength by
- Staying sober. Sobriety is not a one-and-done event, an event in which something happens once and is over for good. Sobriety is a lifelong process. Former addicts might constantly face the temptation to abuse drugs and alcohol again. Many experts believe that substance use disorder is a chronic condition that requires constant vigilance.
- Committing to change. Since substance use disorder is chronic, addicts must commit to making changes in their lives and actually following through on their commitments. For their sobriety to last, they should use their words and deeds to commit to their recoveries.
- Continuing to learn. Learning about ourselves can help us deal with our pasts. This knowledge can help us understand ourselves and our addictions. Maybe we can find factors that triggered these addictions and try to minimize or eliminate such triggers from our lives.
- Remembering your successes. If you’ve gone through rehab, you’ve accomplished something very difficult. You should be proud of your success. Recovery also requires you to establish a new life. Navigating through this new life also isn’t easy. If recovery becomes tough, we should remember that we’ve already been successful in difficult times and that we can be successful again.
Everyone knows that drug and alcohol abuse is difficult, but not everyone knows that recovery can also be difficult. Fortunately, there are ways recovering people can locate, use, and build their strength.
