It takes courage to enter an addiction recovery center. It’s a tough time in anyone’s life. However, it’s also the start of a life-changing transformation. A renewal of your soul. A chance to regain the best parts of yourself and conquer the darkness you’ve been facing.
Completing rehab should make you proud. But the journey isn’t over. There is still hard work to do, mental training to continue, and positive habits to maintain.
After rehab, you may be anxious about what’s next. Those first few weeks after your program are vulnerable. It is so important to set goals for yourself and prepare mentally for how you’re going to live your life and hold true to the new and improved version of yourself.
You are strong enough for this challenge! Here are five tips for maintaining your sobriety post-rehab.
1. Create a Healthy Environment
After going through rehab, staying within an environment that supports your recovery is crucial. When positive habits become routine, your brain can go on autopilot. You will no longer have to recommit or anguish over little decisions; your brain will simply direct your body to do the right thing.
You want your surroundings to help you maintain this positive momentum. Staying away from bars, friends who still use, and other negative influences will help you continue your new habits.
2. Practice Positive Thinking
Your brain is a powerful tool that affects your view of the world and your interactions. In addiction recovery, you’ll learn the importance of how your way of thinking impacts your feelings.
Those prone to negative thoughts often feel sad and bad about themselves. We all have that one friend who reminds us of Eeyore from the Disney Classic, Winnie the Pooh. They are always upset and unhappy. They complain and tend to get sick more than others. That is because their physical and mental well-being is directly related to their thoughts.
Positive thinking is so important, especially in vulnerable states such as recovery. Your coping mechanisms are still fragile as you recover. Practicing positive self-talk and letting off positive energy are powerful tools for staying well. And when you are well (both in body and mind), you will be less likely to return to substance abuse.
Here’s a closer look at how positive thinking affects your well-being:
• Your Immune System
How our mind, body, and soul are interconnected is quite remarkable. Positive thinking can rewire our brains and benefit our immune system. A strong immune system means less sickness because your body is so good at fighting off infections.
The early stages of recovery are challenging, and when you feel ill, your brain might try to tell you that the only thing that will make you feel better is drugs or alcohol. At your drug treatment center, you’ve learned tools to stay out of negative thought cycles. Putting those to use will have an effect on your immune system.
• Your Cardiovascular system
Extensive research has shown a connection between mindset and cardiovascular diseases. A daily positive outlook can reduce your risk for cardiovascular diseases. Being constantly stressed out and negative affects your hormones and chemicals in a way that can elevate blood pressure and raise inflammation. When this happens repeatedly, it can be detrimental to our cardiovascular system.
• Your Emotions
When you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom, pulling yourself out of that dark hole and focusing on the positive things in your life can be challenging. However, those who practice positive thinking are less likely to have mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.
This has to do with the chemicals that your brain produces when your thoughts are positive and happy. Many of the happy, high-on-life feelings that come (temporarily) with drug use can also be felt naturally by being happy and having a positive attitude. And when you can achieve this happy state on your own, you don’t have to worry about crashing. These feelings are sustainable, and they don’t come with negative effects.
3. Set a Healthy Mental and Physical Baseline
As patients near the end of their time in one of our faith-based recovery programs in Utah, we know their first three months out in the real world will be difficult. What you do in those first three months is crucial in creating a foundation for the rest of your life.
It’s important to develop a healthy mental and physical baseline for yourself and stay strong in maintaining it. A baseline is the minimum level your health is at at any given point. If you go beyond your baseline for the better, great! But keeping your mental and physical health at a healthy minimum point will help your brain produce more dopamine and serotonin (happy chemicals). This leaves less room for feelings (such as stress, worry, anxiety, etc.) that increase the tendency to return to drugs or alcohol.
Some examples of baseline parameters include:
- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water a day. To calculate this, divide your weight by 0.5. That is how many ounces of water you should drink a day. If you are 5’10”, that’s 70 inches, so you should drink 35 ounces of water daily (nearly 4 cups).
- Move your body for at least 30 minutes a day. Go for a walk. Go to the gym. Do a home workout.
- Sleep at least eight hours a night. A well-rested mind is a happier mind.
- Interact with at least three people a day. Relationships give us something to look forward to.
- Meditate for at least 10 minutes a day. Meditation is a form of therapy that can help rest your mind and calm your anxieties.
4. Invest in Regular Therapy
If therapy was a regular part of your routine in recovery, make it a regular part of your routine outside of recovery as well. Whether you choose group therapy or individual therapy, talk therapy provides a supportive and safe environment where you can explore your behaviors and thoughts with a trained professional.
Through vulnerable and honest conversations with your therapist, you can start to understand the emotions, behavior patterns, and experiences that may have led to your addiction. Understanding these triggers can help you develop strategies to overcome addiction and maintain sobriety when times get tough.
5. Surround Yourself With Good Influences
You know which friends and family members are going to boost you up and support you in your recovery journey and which ones may have influenced your addiction. It’s time to put your needs first and stay away from the people who will try to drag you down into the trenches of drugs or alcohol again. A healthy environment means surrounding yourself with friends and family who behave in a way that positively impacts your recovery, make you feel proud of your progress, and boost you up every step of your journey.
Our social interactions are everything amidst addiction recovery. Try to develop healthy connections with others who are also sober. Join AA and other groups to be around people who understand your struggles and will give you hope as you see them succeed in their recovery journey.
Leaving a rehabilitation center and returning to life can be a difficult transition, but countless people have done it before, and so can you. Need more help? Contact our men’s and women’s substance abuse treatment facilities in Idaho and Utah.