Early recovery is important as it can determine the trajectory of the rest of your recovery. There are important things to pay attention to. Mile High Recovery Center can help. We’ll take a look at a few things to keep in mind while you’re in early recovery.
Avoid High-Risk Situations
It’s important during your entire recovery but especially in the early phases to make sure you avoid high-risk situations. You’re going to be emotionally and physically fragile, don’t do anything to upset your balance right now. These are the situations you should be avoiding:
- People you used drugs or drank with in the past.
- Others that may be triggering during your recovery.
- The places you used to go to drink or use and buy drugs from.
- The places where substances are easily accessible.
- All drug or alcohol paraphernalia, as they can be triggers.
- Keep an eye on your emotions.
Change Your Negative Thinking
Negative or pessimistic thinking can be a huge roadblock for recovery. Some common negative thoughts include:
- Thinking if people “knew the real me” then they would not associate with you.
- Not thinking you’re likable.
- Thinking life is too hard to face without a coping mechanism.
- Thinking you won’t be able to have any more fun without substances
- Being fatalistic about your ability to overcome cravings, or worrying you’re too “damaged” by addiction and recovery to ever be truly happy.
These feelings can lead you to give in to cravings or temptation.
Ask for Help
Addiction is isolating but you’re far from alone. Outpatient rehab will offer group therapy support, you can seek help from a one-on-one therapist, and you can develop a recovery circle for yourself made up of family members, close friends, counselors, and others. Asking for help is difficult and may make you feel weak, but few people conquer addiction without support from friends, family, and professionals. When you leave the social setting of rehab, make sure to find yourself a social support circle you can rely on.
Be Honest With Yourself and Others
Addiction preys on honesty. If you used but failed to tell your counselor, how will they be able to help you? It’s just as harmful to you if you ignore your addiction and cravings or pretend that minor relapses didn’t happen. Recovery requires complete honesty. It won’t be easy. Addiction is very much about lying and self-deception, so you’ll have to overcome some learned habits when it comes to addiction to make sure you’re as honest as possible with yourself and others.
Self-Care
Recovery from addiction isn’t about punishing yourself or denying yourself everything. You need to make time to relax, to escape, and to reward yourself for your triumphs. You’ll become incredibly irritable and exhausted if you don’t give yourself a break. Allow yourself to have mental health days or vacations, maybe buy that item you’ve been saving up for. Find ways to move through your irritable times without giving in to cravings. Get in touch with us to find out how we can help you on your road to recovery at every stage.+-