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Just like a steamship needs constant refueling to keep the engines running, recovery needs a steady stream of motivation to keep the momentum going. If we feel uninspired https://ecosoberhouse.com/ for too long, feelings of self-doubt, isolation, and frustration can undermine your recovery process. Recovery starts with a single step and continues for a lifetime.
You might get caught up in life and forget to keep doing the things that brought you to that life in the first place. Losing your way is okay, as long as you recognize it when it happens and get back on the path. Maybe you wake up one morning feeling significantly tired and low.
Ways to Maintain Motivation for Sobriety
They will help you with this, as you will become part of a group of like-minded people trying to keep their eyes on the prize. In fact, it helps your sobriety a great deal to work on other aspects of your life. Addiction has most likely negatively impacted your health and personal relationships. Setting and working toward goals can help you take back what you lost, giving you additional motivation to remain sober. When someone with substance use disorder becomes sober or first gets out of rehab, there’s a lot of excitement even when they know there is a hard road in front of them.
- Recovery is a huge life change and life can often feel duller as you begin to recover.
- Our center treats dependence on alcohol, benzodiazepines, cocaine, opioids, and methamphetamine.
- In this way, motivation and inspiration are intrinsically linked.
- This simple act of focusing on the benefits goes a long way in helping you gain initial momentum and in avoiding emotional relapse once you’ve gotten sober.
- Everyone struggles during their journey, and being honest about our struggles allows us to reach out to those who are supportive and willing to help.
- That is why we at SARC provide customizable residential and outpatient treatment programs tailored to ensure that every client has a safe, welcoming, and comfortable experience.
Deciding to enter into recovery and begin doing the work towards building a better life for yourself is a significant decision. However, it does not mean you will always feel motivated to continue in recovery and not have difficulties along the way. The important thing is how you choose to deal with these obstacles, whether you decide to allow them to hold you back or to motivate you to keep pushing. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to move forward despite your mind telling you that you cannot heal, but there are ways to forge ahead.
Why Motivation Is Essential in Recovery
This type of criticism is usually not a true reflection of what is happening because even someone who sits around all day might be motivated. The problem is not that they lack motivation per se, but that they are, instead, motivated to do what others would consider wrong. Therefore, you can define motivation as the driving force behind an action. It’s essential to set realistic goals that are achievable both short-term and long-term.
- You can utilize healthy coping skills throughout recovery—including mindfulness techniques, journaling, art therapy, and music therapy.
- Examples of benefits included finding work, reengaging with one’s family, clearing up legal problems, and regaining a driver’s license.
- For specific questions about your health needs or that of a loved one, seek the help of a healthcare professional.
- The people you reach out to might be able to help re-spark your motivation, but they’ll never be able to help if you don’t speak up when you’re in need.
- Research conducted by Korcha et al3 was an exception to the typical studies on motivation.
The decision to enter treatment can be daunting and may feel like a last resort. While the process of recovery begins to restore your health, it will demand a good deal of energy to be sure you are staying motivated along the way. Some people suffering from addiction decide to enter recovery so they can live long enough to see their children grow up or make their parents proud.
Find Motivation to Get Sober with the Help of Recovery Ranch PA
Some of these pros could include an increased awareness of life, a healthier body, greater ambition, and a new social circle full of loving individuals who accept who you are. The importance of motivation in recovery is often built by finding the internal strength to want to recover. All around you, you may be getting feedback from friends, family, doctors, and peers telling you why you have to recover, but this journey is yours to make and ultimately rests on you. It begins with you building your internal motivation to want to recover for no one else besides yourself. From the JourneyPure team where we get to explore a wide variety of substance abuse- and mental health-related topics. Portions of the brain that were directly affected by drug use begin to return to their former self.
It is easy to romanticize the life you once lived while using substances. Maybe it was filled with adventure and carefree days with friends who understood you or maybe you felt like you belonged in that world and not in the new one you are living. Recovery is a huge life change and life can often feel duller as you begin to recover. You may feel like you are stuck in the same routines, have less friends than you used to, or are struggling to find a purpose. The cons of recovery may seem like a lot at first but with every con, there is a pro and in harder times it is important to remember why you are choosing to make this change for yourself.
Each individual in the household was accountable to other residents, not only in terms of their own behavior (eg, maintaining abstinence), but also in terms of contributing to a healthy recovery environment. The actions of the peers in the above case to reach out and help the resident who was upset and potentially vulnerable to relapse is an excellent example. It’s definitely true that it takes a lot of motivation to stay sober. The thing about addiction is that it typically is not something we want to give up.
And it allows you to close the door on shame, regret, and chaos. This simple act of focusing on the benefits goes a long way in helping you gain initial momentum and in avoiding emotional relapse once you’ve gotten sober. Volunteering can help you to pull away from the narrow motivation for sobriety focus on yourself and redirect it to something (or someone) else that will benefit from your time and attention. Motivation can come from getting involved in community service. Serving others and giving back to the community can connect you to a larger purpose in life.