Life can be full of setbacks. Although very few things set us back further than substance use. Our lives suffer physically, mentally, and emotionally. Our substance use can negatively impact our health, our relationships, our work, families, and sometimes even our freedom.
We are left surveying the damage and asking ourselves, “How can I rebuild my life?”
The Desire to Change
Rebuilding our life is always within our control. No matter how low our lowest low is, it all begins with a desire to change. Not just a desire because of our circumstance.
Not because someone else has threatened to shut us out if we don’t change, or because we are afraid of losing someone. The need to change needs to be more than one or more DUI’s, more than another substance-related legal issue. The desire to change has to come from us, from within.
The desire to change is more than even just being tired of the consequences of substance use. We must look hard in the mirror and want more.
We must find a spark within us that believes we can find ourselves again. When we are truly ready to climb out of the pit of despair that substance use has pushed us into, then we can reach up and find help.
Finding Your Treatment
Making changes begins with treatment. When we are looking for a facility for treatment, one of the most important things is that it is a certified facility.
It’s also vital that we check to see that the facility has the appropriate medical and therapeutic staff for our needs and plenty of experience treating addiction with our specific substance or substances.
Beyond the most basic requirements, we can look for the types of programs and therapies that they offer at the specific facility. It is always good to ask plenty of questions and make sure that we feel comfortable with the staff and the facility.
It is okay to choose a facility with the comforts and amenities we are accustomed to, as well. This is a treatment to heal, not a punishment or sentencing.
This is where we will lose the shackles of our substance use and step away into our new life. It is worth choosing a facility that reflects the life we want to maintain.
Doing the Work
Jumping into treatment, we will start at the beginning, with detox to cleanse our bodies, under careful medical supervision. This is hard but does not have to be cruel.
For some substances with intense withdrawal symptoms, some medications can help the process be a little more humane.
After the first few days, the focus will switch to healing. We all have reasons that we began using substances.
Sometimes it was due to the loss of a loved one or a relationship, dysfunction or abuse in our lives, or even childhood trauma. We need to heal from this pain, or the need to drink or do drugs will keep coming back.
This is why we do work in individual and group therapy, using various types of therapeutic methods.
Healing should be holistic, so as we are working in therapy to heal our minds and souls, we can exercise and eat nutritiously to heal our bodies.
We can also use valuable tools such as mindfulness meditation and yoga, which help heal and re-connect our minds, bodies, and souls. Services like massage and acupuncture help align our bodies and minds and heal critical pathways that substance use can damage.
While we are healing, we can learn valuable tools and skills that will help us as we move forward with everything from dealing with cravings, to emotional regulation, setting and achieving goals, and even relapse prevention. Our bodies, minds, and spirits are awakening during treatment and absorbing new ways to think and live so that we can be healthy holistically.
Assimilating Health into Your Life
Transitioning back into our lives is another significant milestone. We might do it gradually, depending on our circumstances.
In some situations, we need dramatic changes in our relationships, jobs, and living situations. However, the mental and emotional strength that we have gained in treatment helps us to be ready for the transitions.
We can apply the knowledge that we have learned about being healthy in all areas of our life and dig deep to find the person we are becoming.
How can we rebuild our lives? With every courageous step that we have taken on our journey, we have been carefully transforming ourselves.
Substance use may have set us back and stripped us to our core, but it is the essence of us within that core that makes the decision to change. As we do the work within treatment to heal our bodies, minds, and souls, we learn new ways of thinking and living that will help us to be healthy on every level.
Assimilating back into our lives with this healing and transformation is the early manifestation of our life rebuild. Now we are empowered to keep building and become everything our essence believed we could be.
We can repay the faith that others have in us by showing them the power of never giving up on ourselves, no matter the setbacks in life.
You can rebuild your life at AToN Center. Call (888) 535-1516 today to let us guide you as you heal and transform yourself.
Originally posted on April 3, 2020 @ 9:43 am
