Drug and substance abuse is an addictive behavior that is hard to recover from, and most addicts relapse soon after rehabilitation. The high relapse rate can often be attributed to withdrawal symptoms and peer pressure from friends. However, people can fully recover from drug addiction if they resist the urge to use drugs again. Read on to discover tips to fight addiction and prevent relapse.
Change Your Lifestyle
A recovering person can avoid relapsing into addiction by changing their lifestyle. Lifestyle change is a critical rule that cuts across all aspects of the addict’s life, including friends, places, and hobbies. By changing their lives, addicts are less likely to be in situations that could lead them to use drugs again.
Failure to change one’s lifestyle implies that the factors that led them to addiction could eventually catch up with them. However, addicts must understand that they do not need to change their lifestyle completely. Lifestyle change only applies to the people and things likely to lead recovering addicts back to their addiction.
Be Honest
The fundamental virtue of addiction recovery is honesty. When someone lies to friends about their recovery and ends up being around their addiction triggers, this can make them more likely to relapse. Addicts can also lie about taking or hiding drugs and their urge to relapse and quit the recovery journey.
On the other hand, honesty can help recovering addicts find valuable resources and people willing to help them along the way.
Seek Help When Necessary
Recovering addicts should not fight through recovery on their own. While recovery may seem like a personal initiative, many hurdles require a recovering addict to seek help. Recovering addicts can find help concerning the urge to relapse from professionals and addiction recovery self-help groups near them.
Practice Self-Care
Self-care is an underestimated aspect of recovery for addicts. Lack of self-care can lead to relapse despite attending self-help groups and engaging in hobbies, among other steps to recover from addiction.
Self-care is essential because it can help people figure out what led to their addiction, such as using drugs to relax, escape reality, or treat themselves. Self-care can help addicts find alternatives to these addiction triggers and keep them from relapsing.
Do Not Bend Recovery Rules
Most people mess up their recovery by looking for loopholes and insisting on doing things their way. Bending the rules fails to observe the recovery protocols and promotes slight engagement in addictive behavior, which triggers addiction relapse.
Bending the rules is the most straightforward route for a recovering addict to relapse. Addicts who are trying to get clean should follow all the rules, like taking their drugs on time, staying away from the things that make them want to use drugs again, and getting professional help to avoid relapsing.
Consider the Consequences of Your Actions
When alone, a person in recovery may feel pressured to do something that could hurt their recovery. However, every action has a consequence. So, the person should think about what their action will mean before going through with it. They can deliberate their actions’ positive or negative impact to show the results of their actions and the impact on their recovery journey.
The tough recovery journey requires professional help to succeed. Adult & Teen Challenge Ohio is a faith-based recovery center for women aged 18 and older. We believe faith and determination can help you avoid relapsing and make it through recovery successfully. By working through the recovery process, you can go on to live a full life. Get in touch with us today for a successful addiction recovery journey.