There’s no easy way to admit you have an addiction and walk away from whatever’s been weighing you down. Recovery takes hard work and dedication in order to create long-term results for a healthy life.
Still, it’s one of the best decisions you’ll ever make! Despite the challenges of recovery, you have to remember all the stepping stones you face are leading you to something much better than addiction could ever offer.
When you accomplish a sober life, you’re able to be a much more fulfilled, happier person. Plus, there are plenty of ways to fight addiction and come out on top.
These include the conventional approaches like 12-step programs, withdrawal centers, and rehabilitation support. But, it’s worth considering what the following tools can do to help you beat addiction, which may surprise you.
1. Meditation
Meditation isn’t just for hippies and super mindful individuals. It’s available to anyone who gives it a shot. All you have to do is sit down, close your eyes, and breathe.
Oh yeah, and you shouldn’t fidget while you do so. This is the main challenge of meditation. A lot of people – recovering addicts and sober people alike – tell themselves meditation isn’t for them because their mind is always racing or they can’t sit still.
Relax. The more you give this a try, the more you’ll learn all about the wonders of meditation. What may begin as a few minutes of mindful breathing can turn into 30 minutes or even a whole hour of peace to help you navigate every day.
2. Therapy
Instead of calming your mind, you may just need to dump out everything you’ve been trying to take on alone. This is especially true if you have things you’ve been ignoring.
Find a therapist you can talk to and walk them through the maze inside your head. Ask them for guidance, and don’t be afraid to lean on them rather than reaching for your substance of choice. You won’t be needing that anymore.
When you combine consistent therapy sessions with other addiction recovery tactics and tools, everything transforms. Life becomes much brighter and easier to enjoy for you and your loved ones, especially your children. If you want to know how to talk to them about your addiction and recovery process, check out this great article.
3. A New Hobby
Speaking of enjoying life, think about all the hobbies you used to do before addiction took a hold of you. Maybe it’s time to dive into the things you love again or to find a new hobby altogether.
This creates a healthy distraction. Whether you prefer to exercise, garden, read, cook, or work on cars, you’re doing something with the mind instead of trying to numb it. Your hobby should be mentally engaging; it should make you realize the beauty of the present moment rather than encourage you to run from it the way drugs tend to do.
4. A Healthy Diet
The tricky thing about quitting addiction is that after a certain time, your body becomes dependant on a drug. You’ll find it harder to perform basic tasks and think clearly when the first signs of withdrawal kick in. Think of this like the ultimate “come down” – and your final one, too.
After that, though, there’s still much work to be done to bring the body back to good health. This is why a healthy diet is crucial for a recovering addict. You need to feed your body the nutrients it has been drained of during your drug use.
Eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. Incorporate lean proteins into your diet and try to cut back on the junk food, too. Most importantly, drink plenty of water.
Keep a reusable water bottle with you at all times so you can stay hydrated no matter what you’re doing. This alone can have a profound effect on your recovery process and overall wellbeing.
5. Regular Sleep
Another thing that has a huge effect on how you beat addiction and your quality of health post-recovery is sleep. You need a regular sleep schedule.
There’s no arguing this. Good sleep does wonders for the body, and bad sleep can be more of a horror than you think. When you don’t sleep well, it’s harder for the brain to remember things or recollect the information it already knows.
More so, you’ll find yourself in a more irritable state of mind and less able to control your emotions. Lack of sleep also means you’re going to feel tired throughout the day and a little weaker, too.
This is no state to be in if you want to beat addiction. Get a good sleep schedule down in order to help you walk away from drugs now and maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle later.
6. Conscious Alone Time
The final tool to help you beat addiction is conscious alone time. Note – this is not the same as isolating yourself from friends and family to sit on the couch or stay in your room all day. To create “conscious” alone time means to carve out space in your schedule to sit with your thoughts and just be.
This may be part of your morning routine or something you do before bed every night. It could be how you spend part of your lunch break at work or an activity to do after your group sobriety sessions.
Either way, the whole point is to be comfortable with yourself and your thoughts. You learn to become more mindful and aware when you make a habit of having alone time.
This allows you to face challenges from a rational standpoint rather than an emotional one. It helps you see things clearly and clear your mind after a long day. Over time, you start realizing all the answers to your problems are available with attentiveness and reflection, which is a much better combination than addiction and unhealthy coping.
Learning How to Beat Addiction and Stay Sober
Many recovered addicts always identify themselves as addicts rather than sober people. Such a way of wording things reminds them there’s always work to be done to beat addiction. It’s not just something you walk away from and never think about again; it’s something you have to always work to avoid and overcome whenever temptation strikes.
If you’re reading this out of concern for a loved one in your life, click here to learn how to stage an intervention and help them get better.
