You've Completed a Drug Rehab Facility, Now What?
1. Take Care of Yourself. This may sound pretty simple; however, for most drug addicts this was never high on the priority list. More than likely eating right and getting a good night's sleep didn't happen until you were in a drug rehab facility. Now that you are back in the real world, you must continue to eat healthy and sleep well. Adding exercise to your daily plan will also increase your chances of staying sober. Many doctors say that exercise produces a better effect on one's mood than anti-depressants.
2. Stay Close to Your Family. This will look different for each of you as you define who your family is. If it's your husband, your mother, your children, or your closest friends, keep them near. Those who helped you get to a drug rehab facility and succeed will be the ones who will want to see you stay clean. Foster those relationships. Remember those that love you and have helped you clean up are the best people to keep in your inner circle and your spending time with them and helping them will help undo any past harm and damage from drug use or alcoholism.
3. Pay Attention to the People You Hang Around. If you are hanging around with people who are using, even socially, you are setting yourself up for failure. You already know this. However, this rule extends outside of just your peer group. Remember the groups of people in the drug rehab facility. There were those who really wanted to be there and worked hard at the program, and then there were those who remained negative, who were only there because someone has forced them to attend, or because they were avoiding jail time but were not really ready to quit. Choose, even now, to befriend the positive people. Surrounding yourself with negative people can have destructive consequences, so make sure you pick your groups wisely at work, school and in your free time.
4. Realize that You Are Not Alone. You are part of the human race. Drug addiction does not differentiate between race, religion, or gender. As you may remember from the drug rehab facility that you attended, everyone who was there came from a different place, but you were united in the pain and destruction that drug addiction causes. Remember that even now you are connected, not just to other drug addicts, but to everyone. If you live as though you are connected to everyone, then you will find that you truly are not alone in this world, and your chances of staying sober will increase. Helping others is an incredible cure for boredom and restlessness, and will fill you with accomplishment and pride. Make sure that you spend time giving of yourself in some way to others.
5. Connect with the Natural World. Before you attended that drug rehab facility, you lost touch with not only with yourself but with your environment as well. However you choose to reconnect with nature, whether it is through hiking, eating organically, or even simply recycling, the greater chance you have of remaining clean. There is so much healing power in a morning walk with your dog, watching a sunset, or nurturing your body with whole foods that you would do yourself a disservice to return to the false high and guilt associated with drugs.
6. Take Care of Your Stuff. This includes your space and everything in it. Keep your house neat and organized. You may have gotten practice keeping your space clean in the drug rehab facility; however, take this thought one step further and apply it to how you spend your time and your energy. Think of this as preventative maintenance. Change the oil in your car so your car is less likely to break down and you are less likely to react negatively to a broken down car. Pay your bills so you don't get behind and financial stress does not build, which could lead to all sorts of triggers. Remember the more your "stuff" is in order, the less likely you are to relapse over these types of triggers.
7. Nurture Your Spirit. This isn't about believing in God or joining a religion. This is about seeing yourself as a spiritual being – one who can create, one who has thoughts and ideas, one who has the desire to survive. Whatever your beliefs, you are a being with ideas. Now that you have completed the drug rehab facility, your mind is free from chemicals that have hindered your ability to create your life. If you see yourself as an artist, then go buy some paint. If you seek peace in your psyche, join a yoga class or learn meditation. If you feel connected to your spirit by going to church on Sundays, then go. The more you turn your positive thoughts into tangible creations, the less likely you are to crave a drug-induced state.
8. Embrace All. This is a huge concept and can take on any form that works for you. Simply look at not only yourself but the world around you and your role in it. It is important to grasp that you and this world you live in are immeasurably great, that you are not bound by finite ideas, or limited in what you can achieve. Embrace yourself. Embrace life. Embrace all that there is, and you will find that drugs no longer have a place in your world and you will enjoy your drug free life.
2. Stay Close to Your Family. This will look different for each of you as you define who your family is. If it's your husband, your mother, your children, or your closest friends, keep them near. Those who helped you get to a drug rehab facility and succeed will be the ones who will want to see you stay clean. Foster those relationships. Remember those that love you and have helped you clean up are the best people to keep in your inner circle and your spending time with them and helping them will help undo any past harm and damage from drug use or alcoholism.
3. Pay Attention to the People You Hang Around. If you are hanging around with people who are using, even socially, you are setting yourself up for failure. You already know this. However, this rule extends outside of just your peer group. Remember the groups of people in the drug rehab facility. There were those who really wanted to be there and worked hard at the program, and then there were those who remained negative, who were only there because someone has forced them to attend, or because they were avoiding jail time but were not really ready to quit. Choose, even now, to befriend the positive people. Surrounding yourself with negative people can have destructive consequences, so make sure you pick your groups wisely at work, school and in your free time.
4. Realize that You Are Not Alone. You are part of the human race. Drug addiction does not differentiate between race, religion, or gender. As you may remember from the drug rehab facility that you attended, everyone who was there came from a different place, but you were united in the pain and destruction that drug addiction causes. Remember that even now you are connected, not just to other drug addicts, but to everyone. If you live as though you are connected to everyone, then you will find that you truly are not alone in this world, and your chances of staying sober will increase. Helping others is an incredible cure for boredom and restlessness, and will fill you with accomplishment and pride. Make sure that you spend time giving of yourself in some way to others.
5. Connect with the Natural World. Before you attended that drug rehab facility, you lost touch with not only with yourself but with your environment as well. However you choose to reconnect with nature, whether it is through hiking, eating organically, or even simply recycling, the greater chance you have of remaining clean. There is so much healing power in a morning walk with your dog, watching a sunset, or nurturing your body with whole foods that you would do yourself a disservice to return to the false high and guilt associated with drugs.
6. Take Care of Your Stuff. This includes your space and everything in it. Keep your house neat and organized. You may have gotten practice keeping your space clean in the drug rehab facility; however, take this thought one step further and apply it to how you spend your time and your energy. Think of this as preventative maintenance. Change the oil in your car so your car is less likely to break down and you are less likely to react negatively to a broken down car. Pay your bills so you don't get behind and financial stress does not build, which could lead to all sorts of triggers. Remember the more your "stuff" is in order, the less likely you are to relapse over these types of triggers.
7. Nurture Your Spirit. This isn't about believing in God or joining a religion. This is about seeing yourself as a spiritual being – one who can create, one who has thoughts and ideas, one who has the desire to survive. Whatever your beliefs, you are a being with ideas. Now that you have completed the drug rehab facility, your mind is free from chemicals that have hindered your ability to create your life. If you see yourself as an artist, then go buy some paint. If you seek peace in your psyche, join a yoga class or learn meditation. If you feel connected to your spirit by going to church on Sundays, then go. The more you turn your positive thoughts into tangible creations, the less likely you are to crave a drug-induced state.
8. Embrace All. This is a huge concept and can take on any form that works for you. Simply look at not only yourself but the world around you and your role in it. It is important to grasp that you and this world you live in are immeasurably great, that you are not bound by finite ideas, or limited in what you can achieve. Embrace yourself. Embrace life. Embrace all that there is, and you will find that drugs no longer have a place in your world and you will enjoy your drug free life.
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