Dealing with the Speed Bumps of Recovery

Rebuilding old relationships with family and friends is critical to recovery

Addiction recovery requires a lot of effort and time. One of the most crucial decisions you’ll ever make in your life is to end substance abuse and addiction. However, that is only the beginning of your journey. Addiction recovery is a process and there are many speed bumps you’ll have to deal with along the way. Once you establish your sobriety, you’ll be able to learn tools and healthy coping mechanisms to deal with obstacles without as much difficulty.

Common Addiction Challenges

In order to stay sober for life, you’ll have to experience and deal with a number of addiction challenges. Some of the most common speed bumps along the way include the following:

• Old habits – Most addicts are habituated to doing things a certain way. You’ll need to spend a lot of time and effort to learn new coping techniques and tools to change the way you think.
• Reintegrating into life – One of the biggest addiction challenges most addicts face is transitioning back to their regular home life after rehab. Rehab centers create a protected environment and if you aren’t well prepared you may find it challenging to stay sober once you are home.
• Family and friends – Rebuilding old relationships with family and friends can also be quite difficult, as not everyone is willing to forgive mistakes or embrace your new, sober lifestyle.
• Boredom – It is essential that you have a plan for your spare time, as boredom can be a major trigger to relapse. Most addicts spend all their spare time sourcing and using drugs. With all the extra time available, recovering addicts have to find new ways of keeping themselves occupied.

Although addiction recovery is likely to be difficult and painful, it is possible with professional addiction help. Believe in yourself and your ability to reach your goals. If you are not confident in yourself, the smallest challenges can feel like major obstacles. Try setting smaller, achievable goals for yourself during addiction recovery. When you achieve these small goals, your confidence will increase as well. Seek motivation from conversations with those who have been able to recover successfully. You can also talk to a therapist and read motivational books to keep yourself on track. It can be helpful to work with a peer who is trying to achieve a similar goal. If someone else can cope with addiction challenges successfully, so can you.

Make Addiction Recovery Successful

Perhaps one of the best ways to deal with the challenges in addiction recovery is to find a purpose in your life. Your life may have been focused on drugs for years. Without this point of focus, you will now have to find a different purpose in your life. New hobbies, spirituality, friendships and rebuilding relationships are a few ways you can start creating new meaning in your life.

If you are finding it difficult to stay sober, call our 24 hour, toll-free number today for relapse help.