A few months have passed since your New Year’s resolutions were made, and you may be noticing that the firm commitments you made back then are starting to lose the luster they once had. This can be especially true of resolutions to become free of an alcohol or drug addiction, as the path to recovery looks intimidating to many. If you’re looking to re-commit to obtaining an addiction-free lifestyle and want to make sure your resolution sticks this time, consider these tips.
Share your resolution with others.
Not only does sharing your desire to become sober set you on the path for building a strong support system that will carry you through the recovery process, but it also works to hold yourself more accountable to the people you share your resolution with. Sharing your resolutions with others places on you the responsibility of following through with your words. So if you are having a difficult getting started on the path to recovery but have a strong innate desire to always stay true to the words that you speak, this is a great place for you to start. (For more on developing a strong support system through the people you share your addiction-free resolution with, check out our blog post “6 Steps Addicts Can Take to Develop an Effective Support System.”)
Seek professional help.
Enlisting the help of a professional or an organization with your alcohol or drug addiction is not a sign of weakness; in fact, it is a remarkable sign of strength. Acknowledging that you need help freeing yourself from addiction is a courageous step that will put you on solid ground, pointed in the direction of recovery. Programs like A Mission for Michael that are dedicated to helping those suffering from addiction understand the tangled web that surrounds addiction as well as the many psychological side effects that accompany it. They are staffed with healthcare professionals that will care not only for your physical needs but also your mental, emotional, and psychological needs. They also work to help you create lifestyle changes that will help reduce the chance of relapse.
Lay out small and specific steps.
Imagining the road to addiction recovery that lies ahead can be intimidating, but try to imagine it as a road that you are driving down at night with your headlights on; you can only see a few hundred feet ahead of you at any given moment, but you can make the entire journey that way. This is the principle that 12-step programs are built on, and this is the type of goal-setting that you will experience in a complete addiction recovery program. Also be sure when making a resolution to become sober to make your small goals specific so that you can truly know when you’ve achieved them. Examples of small, achievable steps that you can map for yourself are telling one close friend about your addiction, or finding online three addiction recovery programs that are located near you.