5 Ways to Avoid Addiction Relapse
While there are a wide variety of life situations and conditions that can preclude people from living fully and freely, addiction can play a particularly powerful role in preventing individuals from attaining the type of productive and positive life they want. And once you're down that hole and trying to scrape back out of it, addiction relapse can play a major role.
This is the case for many reasons, including the fact that addiction can interfere with an individual's ability to perform on the job or in school.
In many cases, addicts may start the recovery process yet find themselves relapsing into their old habits of substance or alcohol abuse. This type of activity can be particularly harmful because it can cause addicts to fall into a dangerous cycle of recovery and relapse that does not facilitate long-term recovery.
If you have an addiction and are attempting to avoid a relapse, here are some strategies that can help you:
1. Support Networks
Attaining a support network can play an integral role in precluding an individual from relapsing into a life of addiction.
This is the case for several reasons, including the fact that individuals who have a physical and mental addiction to a substance often find that they do not have the willpower necessary to recover alone.
Support networks can help facilitate the recovery process in many ways. Firstly, these systems will have a member who has already gone through the recovery process and can provide you with information regarding how to make addiction a part of your past.
Additionally, the networks can offer you the motivation and encouragement you need to feel loved and valued as you make your transition away from substance abuse or alcoholism.
2. Develop Hobbies
One of the challenges resulting from deciding to overcome an addiction is that you have more time on your hands. While this reality can be overwhelming, it doesn't have to be.
Fill up the time you would've spent using chemical substances or alcohol by developing a fun hobby that keeps you intellectually stimulated and/or entertained.
Some examples would be gardening, ice skating, swimming, or cooking.
3. Change Your Environment
As many behavioral experts know, our environment is incredibly influential. This can be especially the case for an individual who is going through the recovery process.
For example, there are likely a lot of memories that you have involving drugs that pertain to the physical space you occupy. If you were accustomed to doing drugs or drinking alcohol in your room, you might associate the act with your bed, curtains, dresser, desk, or any other object in the near vicinity.
Since the objects in our environment facilitate the production of associative memories which can remind us of things we did in the past, it's a good idea to change your environment when you begin the path to recovery.
There are several ways you can do this, including by painting your walls or buying new furniture. Often, a new physical setting will help precipitate the development of new, healthy ways of being and acting, which make the recovery process more manageable.
4. Get Educated
Getting educated about addiction and recovery is a great way to prevent a relapse.
Since this is the case, take time to read literature from reputable sources that provide you with information about things such as overcoming temptations, the limitations of recovery, and what type of mental and physical changes you may undergo once you make addiction a thing of your past.
By becoming knowledgeable about these things, you will likely know how to handle challenging situations that could preclude you from moving forward.
Conclusion
Although addiction can be challenging to grapple with, it doesn't have to be. By committing to recover permanently rather than go through cycles of relapse, you can begin leading the healthy, positive life you've always wanted.
By implementing the strategies listed above, you will likely find that you are less susceptible to addiction relapse than you thought. Good luck!