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7 Tips to Help You Stay Sober After Addiction Treatment
Addiction treatment is meant to help you kick substance abuse and stay sober. However, many people find that after addiction treatment, they’re more likely to relapse than before they entered rehab. Even though you may have completed a 30-day program or even 90 days of inpatient rehab, it takes time for the brain and body to fully recover from years of drug use.
If you’ve been released from treatment or are thinking about going into recovery soon, there are steps you can take now to help increase your odds of staying sober long-term.
1. Learn to accept your feelings — all of them, including negative ones.
It’s not easy to accept your feelings, but it is an essential first step in recovery. When you allow yourself to experience all your emotions and learn how to cope with them, you are no longer holding onto the past.
2. Talk about your feelings about change with someone you trust.
Talking about the changes in your life and how they make you feel will allow both yourself and others around you to understand what is going on with you as a person, which can help guide decisions as well as provide encouragement when needed. If there are any emotions that seem overwhelming or difficult to cope with, talking them out will allow others who care about you to point out ways that they might be able to help reduce these feelings over time. This could mean going to therapy or just talking about it with other people in AA meetings or support groups made up of friends or family members who have been through similar things.
3. Keep busy and develop new interests outside of drugs and alcohol.
Addiction is a coping mechanism that helps people deal with stressful situations, but it can also be used to avoid them altogether. Now that you’ve decided to deal with stress in a healthier way, it’s time to find new healthy ways to deal with stress and boredom. Without new interests, you can confidently turn your back on your old habits when you’re feeling overwhelmed by life or bored at home alone during the day.
