We seem to have hurt or disappointed nearly everyone in our lives. Our career may have been affected by our substance use, and all of our relationships certainly have been affected. Some of us have faced legal issues, possibly have serious health issues, and may have lost everything that mattered to us. Not to mention that our self-esteem is completely decimated, too. Substance use can leave us feeling like all hope is lost. Can we really change our lives?
Impetus for Change
Change is always possible. When we have used substances, then we must become our own impetus for change. We may improve if we choose to enter treatment for someone else or because we are legally required to. However, wholesale changes in our lives require wholesale changes in our own mindset.
Looking at the mess we have made of our life, change may seem impossible. That is never true, we can always change our lives. The difference is that when we look at our lives and see the damage our substance use has caused, are we okay letting this be our legacy? Or are we willing to pick ourselves up, do the work, and create a better life for ourselves? That desire within us to change, even if we doubt our capacity to do so, is the impetus we need to improve our lives.
Deliberate Recovery
Knowing that we need to change, and having the desire to make that happen, our next step is to enter treatment for substance use. Simply by making this decision on our own, we give ourselves more power to change. We also increase our chances of staying sober indefinitely when we deliberately and purposefully choose treatment.
Treatment for substance use can be whatever we want to make of it. If we begrudge ourselves for having to be there or resist the exercises and treatments that we don’t like, we may still become sober. However, it is when we truly invest ourselves in our recovery process that we receive the most benefits for our efforts.
Sincere Effort
Recovery is not like school, where smart people always get good grades and no one else measures up. Recovery is about effort. Making a sincere and honest effort to do everything in our power to heal from our substance use, we directly reap the benefits of our work.
When we are driven by our own choices and desire for change, then the work of treatment and recovery is more rewarding. The intense therapy, learning new skills, improving our bodies through diet and exercise, and digging deep for emotional healing will be work. But it will be work that is transforming, and it will be worth it.
Desire for Change
As we begin to transform in treatment, we will create an even stronger desire for change. Just realizing that we can live without our substances is a powerful achievement. Once we can do that, then we gain a stronger desire to achieve the other possibilities available to us in treatment. We realize that we can heal from our pain, the reason that we began using substances in the first place. We learn that we have the strength to withstand cravings and gain the knowledge and skills to help us withstand them going forward, as well.
Our desire for change leads us to find truths in the tools and skills that help us now and in the future. We are empowered to implement what we are learning into our lives. Best of all, we are beginning to see the person in the mirror that we knew was inside of us all along. We are learning to believe in ourselves again, all because we believed enough in the possibility of change.
Grounded in Recovery
Completing our treatment is the foundation for our new lives, the lives we never thought we could have. Now we must rebuild the other parts of our lives, with family, work, and other relationships. Some relationships and other parts of our past may be able to be salvaged, some may not. Treatment does not erase our past, it helps forge our future.
As difficult as it may be to clean up the carnage of our previous life, we have the strength and determination that we gained by overcoming our substance use. That initial strength we found to choose treatment, combined with our sincere efforts and desire to change has grown into a force within us. We are grounded in our recovery. Not satisfied with merely being sober, but rather committed to our complete transformation, mind, body, and spirit.
Deserved Transformation
This transformation of ours is much deserved and is to be commended. When we look back at the proverbial wasteland that was our life during substance use and look at how strong, independent, and healthy we have become already, we can see the change immediately. Where once we questioned being able to improve our lives, in recovery, we recommit to improving our lives every day. That commitment translates to an incredible transformation.
Can you really change your life? At AToN Center, we believe you can. We provide you with everything you need so that you can make your own deserved transformation. Call (888) 813-5928 today to find out how you can find your own, deliberate recovery. We can help you become grounded in your recovery and find yourself.
Originally posted on June 22, 2020 @ 2:50 pm
