8 Mindset Shifts to Help You Begin Your Recovery
The move into long-term sobriety is a daunting mental and emotional battle for anyone struggling with substance use disorder. While a positive mindset is very important when working through any great change, shifting your mindset to one of growth and progress is imperative as you begin your recovery journey. To better prepare for this beginning phase of your recovery, here are eight mindset shifts you can focus on to adjust more smoothly into lasting sobriety.
1. You are Sober NOW.
Just as important to any recovery journey as accepting your struggle with substance abuse and addiction is claiming sobriety as soon as you can. It doesn’t matter if you just came down from your last use 20 minutes ago; if you’re determined to get and stay sober, tell yourself that you are sober NOW and that you are going to stay sober from now on.
Identifying as an addict is important to understand how to start the healing and recovery process. But identifying as a sober recovering addict needs to be a regular part of your new identity. Make this a daily affirmation that you live by and work it into your self-talk as often as you can until you begin to believe it.
2. Abstinence Is Not Sobriety
Abstinence, yes, technically is sobriety. You’re not using and you’re sober. However, true sobriety, the kind for which every recovering addict longs, encompasses much more than just simply not using.
True sobriety is learning to overcome the impulse to use and replacing it with healthier and helpful choices.
True sobriety is facing the temptation to use, pausing, and taking time to focus on the future consequences of giving into temptation.
True sobriety is focusing on understanding your triggers, healing from your past, and choosing to work every day to progress toward being the very best version of yourself.
As you can see, abstinence is a very important part of sobriety, but it is only a single part of sobriety as a whole.
To fully recovery from addiction, learn to create a sober lifestyle with abstinence at its center, surrounded by healthy new habits and relationships that will support you through early recovery and onto lasting sobriety.
3. Embrace Total Honesty
Lies and deceit have likely become a basic part of your survival as an addict. Whether to avoid unwanted consequences, to keep from hurting a loved one, or simply lying to get what you want, dishonesty probably feels like second nature to you.
Recovery, however, means complete honesty, no matter how unfavorable the outcome may be. It’s time to forgo the natural tendency toward deceit and embrace total honesty at all costs. In doing so, you will open the door to healing and progress. Through honesty with yourself and those within your support circle, you’ll find ways to overcome your past and repair relationships you may have once thought lost to you.
Total honesty is also your best weapon against relapse. With it, you will progress steadily through recovery and be able to create a better life built upon success and sobriety.
4. The Past: LET. IT. GO.
Addicts tend to get trapped in a viscous cycle of regret and avoidance. Our shame from past choices and the desperate need to forget those choices and relieve our humiliation keeps us looking for an escape.
Recovery means stopping this cycle in its tracks, facing all the shame and pain for the past head on, and letting it go. While this is all easier said than done, doing so is completely possible and will ultimately strengthen you against any future temptations to slip back into your addiction.
Learn to accept the past for what it is and understand you cannot control what has already taken place. Then, at the right time, make restitution wherever possible, and determine to focus your energy on the present and on building a better future for yourself.
To better help you through this difficult part of recovery, it’s important to seek out personal and professional support. Gather those who love you close, knowing they want to see you overcome your addiction and lead a happy healthy life. Then look for a qualified professional who will help you create the tools necessary for success.
5. Accept Responsibility for Your Recovery
Addiction is often a direct result from abuse and trauma caused by others and inevitably leads to feelings of hopelessness and completel loss of control. Because of this, it is very easy to fall into the role of victim, giving up all control over the quality of your own life.
Recovery, on the other hand, provides the opportunity to gain complete control over your addiction; you become empowered to make the changes necessary to heal and succeed; and you regain precious agency once lost to substance abuse.
None of this is possible, however, until you make it possible. Recovery can only start when you make the choice to accept total control over your addiction and actively begin to work the necessary steps toward lasting sobriety. Once you accept complete control over your own recovery, you open the door to a brand-new life.
6. Accept the Possibility of Relapse
For any addict fresh on their path to recovery, relapse can be a terrifying prospect to consider. And, with the generalized relapse statistic within the first year of sobriety being 40% to 60% according to a study cited in this post on the National Institute on Drug Abuse website, this fear is completely founded.
However, it’s important to understand the beneficial role relapse can play in every addict’s recovery. Because relapse is so likely, it should be viewed as a steppingstone toward lasting sobriety, as a tool from which addicts can learn a great deal about themselves and their individual needs.
Though not necessary for a successful recovery, do not allow the possibility of relapse to deter you from successfully working your sobriety. Instead, make necessary preparations to safeguard yourself from relapse; but, if relapse does happen, determine to learn as much as you can from the experience.
7. Focus on Progress
Progress is the ultimate focus in recovery. Working to be a happier, healthier person in sobriety than you ever could have hoped to be as an addict should be the fuel that keeps you moving forward.
It’s easy to fall into the mindset of failure when you’re constantly struggling with triggers, cravings, and temptations. Trust that this is all part of the refining process of recovery. Perfection is not possible, especially for recovering addicts. But, as you work, day by day, to stay sober, soon enough you’ll notice a new strength in yourself you never thought possible as an addict. Hold onto this strength and use it to rebuild the life you lost to addiction.
8. Determine to Never Give Up
Sobriety is hard. And it’s especially hard for the addict just starting out. Therefore, your most important mindset shift in recovery is a determination to never, ever give up on yourself. No matter how hard it is to face reality or how many times you give into cravings, determine to get right back on the path and remind yourself you are loved; you are needed; you are worth this fight.
For many struggling with addiction who choose to get sober, early recovery will prove to be one of the most difficult trials of their life. However, the potential for personal growth and strength to be gained from the tests required in recovery will prove to benefit you in ways you never imagined. Staying focused on the path toward sobriety will lead you to a life you never thought possible during your addiction. For the greatest success, the right mindset is key, and I promise you, recovery is possible.
