The Sober Life: How to Make and Keep Goals After Rehab

February 7, 2013 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

by Melissa Cammack

When you graduate from drug rehab, you are one step closer to living a sober life.

But as you are reintroduced into society, you must learn how to stay clean and pick up all of the pieces that have fallen apart because of your addiction. When you get clean and you start to see the world through sober eyes, it is very important to stay productive, and one of the most effective ways to stay productive is to set goals and stay focused on achieving these goals. As you start to accomplish your goals, you will become more confident that you can stay abstinent. The first step is making your goals, and the second step is to keep these goals.

Tips on Making Realistic Goals After Rehab

As a recovering addict, you know that you have to live life one day at a time. You should keep this simple rule in mind whenever you are making goals for yourself to live a sober and productive life. Writing down your goals is a great way to stay accountable and to assess whether or not any of the goals need to be updated in the future. After you achieve your first set of short-term goals, you can move on to setting a new set of short-term goals that will get you even further in your sober life. Here are some tips on creating goals for yourself that are possible to attain:

Work with your counselor in the rehab center before you leave the facility to come up with a post-rehab life plan. This plan will include goals you will set for yourself for the weeks and months following rehab and your counselor will help give you tips on how to stay on track.
Attend follow up counseling sessions after rehab to discuss what you are finding challenging now that you are living the sober life. You can discuss goals you have achieved, feel empowered, and set new goals that your counselor will hold you to.
Take time to meet new friends who also live a sober life. When you build new relationships or you take time to heal your relationships with your old friends, it will give you more power to get through challenges you will face in the future.

Rehab stresses that recovery is a life-long process. You need to understand before you venture out on your own and try to conquer the world. Make sure you have a support system, make a plan, and do everything in your power to stay accountable.

About the Author: This article was written on behalf of http://www.freedomdrugrehab.com/ by Melisa Cammack, so for those who are looking for more information on help with addiction, please visit their site today.

How to Help Yourself Get to Sobriety and Recovery

November 27, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus

by Melisa Cammack

The depths of addiction are a scary place to be, and those of us who have experienced this in the past or are facing these issues now know that crawling out into the light is not an easy task. Giving up something as seemingly comforting as addiction can be frightening and overwhelming. To say recovery is easy would be a lie, but as they say, the best things in life are worth fighting for. How, though, should you begin cutting through obstacles and blazing the trail to success?

Seeking Help

Chances are if you’re reading this article you realize you have a problem with some substance or another and you realize you need help, and that is step one; this is arguably the most important step. Realizing there is an issue and reaching out for help takes a large amount of honesty and insight on your part, so be proud of yourself! Rehabilitation centers, talk and group therapy, hospitalization, or even self-help literature are all legitimate forms of help, however some of these methods may be more effective than others; if you have little to no willpower like most addicts, you should consider a rehab center.

Making Changes

Having a completely sober period of time under your belt is a huge accomplishment, so the next step is to try not to relapse. It is heavily suggested to cut contact with any friends you may have used with. Don’t worry, because this may not last forever. You could very well serve as an example to your old friends of what sober living can look like. Attracting people to being sober is truly an invaluable skill that all recovering addicts possess.

Starting Anew

It is also important to avoid any past routines that make you think of using your old substance of choice. Music is a very strong trigger for many people, so try finding some new musical groups to attach fresh memories to. Experts encourage addicts to get rid of any old albums, photos, clothes, movies, video games, and other things that have negative memories associated with them. It can be difficult, but a clean slate is without a doubt worth a small loss of material possessions.

You are about to endure the most important, most difficult, most worth-while journey of your life. You might very well slip, and that’s okay. It’s normal, even! As long as you pick yourself up and put one foot in front of the other, you’re on the road to recovery.

About the Author: Melisa Cammack has been freelance writing for several years, and loves writing for parenting and self-help articles. Melisa is currently promoting the Delray Recovery Center, and encourages those who are seeking help with abuse to look into recovery facilities.

Food as an Addiction: How to Handle Slip Ups

July 20, 2011 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

He was celebrating four years of sobriety.

When I asked how he knew it was time to initially seek help, he said, “I finally realized I had no control over alcohol. I thought about it all the time. I couldn’t wait to drink. I was obsessed with it. I needed a place to get help.” As I listened, I thought, “Substitute the ‘food’ for ‘alcohol,’ and that’s me.” It was one of the triggers in getting me to lose my weight.

It was also the instant I realized that overeating is every bit as much of an addiction as drugs or alcohol.

We don’t like to think of overeating as an addiction for several reasons. First of all, it’s part of the norm to eat too much. That would make us a country of addicts, and true as that might be, we sure don’t want to admit it. Moreover, there are no age restrictions, you can do it in public, and it’s legal. Eating too much might make you fat, but a cop won’t pull you over for a 300-triglyceride level, it won’t cause you to black out, nor do unwise things you’ll regret with morning’s light.

Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary defines addiction as, “persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be physically, psychologically, or socially harmful.” Let’s be clear; when you’re hiding goodies in your purse, lying on the bed to tighten your belt, or avoiding social gatherings because you’re afraid of the reactions; it’s a safe bet you’ve met the entry qualifications for addicted.

The bigger problem is, unlike the more nefarious addictions, we cannot “just say no.” As difficult as it might be, an alcoholic can swear off booze, and a smoker can refuse cigarettes. We, however, must continue to indulge while learning to set arbitrary, always shifting, sometimes ill defined limits about what constitutes “too far.”

Sure, a half-gallon of ice cream is a pretty clear violation of self-control. One could say the same for a quart, maybe. But where do we draw the line? Is a cup all right? What about two? To the alcoholic, an ounce is too much. For us, where does it start?

[Read more…]

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The Sober Life: How to Make and Keep Goals After Rehab

When you graduate from drug rehab, you are one step closer to living a sober life.

Tips on Making Realistic Goals After Rehab

Food as an Addiction: How to Handle Slip Ups

He was celebrating four years of sobriety.

It was also the instant I realized that overeating is every bit as much of an addiction as drugs or alcohol.

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