After the initial detox process when you’ve eliminated the substances from your body, the lifetime journey of recovery begins. While you will most likely feel enthusiasm and confidence for sustaining recovery, the reality is that there are unavoidable twists and turns in life that can prompt feelings that can put you at risk of using again.
Feelings that Trigger Substance Abuse
One of the most important parts of recovery is learning how to avoid and overcome feelings that led you to substance abuse in the first place. Many addicts that relapse do so because they never addressed underlying feelings and issues that caused them to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs.
Once they’ve returned back into their normal life, it’s only a matter of time before they’re hit with a borage of feelings triggered by an event, a person, or situation. Sometimes, these feelings come out of nowhere, particularly when there are underlying mental issues, such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Learning to Deal with Negative Feelings, Emotions, and Negative Thoughts
In a perfect world after rehab, you’ll never have to face a challenge of any kind again and sustaining recovery would be easy. Yet, the reality is that life is full of challenges, hurdles, unexpected situations and even difficult people. All of these things can prompt negative feelings to pop up and take over.
The key to avoiding a relapse is learning how to identify your personal triggers for using drugs or alcohol and finding ways to stay mentally strong and healthy.
Strategies to Prevent Relapse
The following are tips to prevent relapse and stay strong both mentally and physically.
Holistic Therapies
Holistic therapies learned in rehab can be particularly beneficial for keeping negative thoughts under control and can dramatically improve a temporary negative mindset.
Simple techniques can be very beneficial, such as:
- meditation
- exercise
- yoga
- getting a good night’s sleep
Strong Support System
It’s also very important to have a strong network of individuals around you who support your recovery. When you’re feeling down, you can talk through your feelings with your support system and gain encouragement to stay on your journey of recovery. A 12-step program can be particularly beneficial because you can share your feelings with those who have been exactly where you are. They can provide you with their coping tips, and you’ll feel the powerfully positive feeling of camaraderie of being in a group that deeply understands what you’re going through.
Take that First Step to Healing and Recovery
Whether you’ve never received treatment for drug or alcohol addiction or you’ve had several relapses, there is help available and strategies to be gained to avoid feelings that led to your addiction.
Find out more about getting help and taking control of your feelings.
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