Achieving sobriety from drugs, alcohol, or any other unhealthy habit is no small feat. It takes courage, commitment, and a total mindset change.
However, once you are sober, your life, habits, and thoughts all become about avoiding relapsing and maintaining your recovery. Staying sober will give your life back but it does take a new set of healthy habits and ideas you will need to cultivate. You will experience cravings but your new healthy habits can help you manage them and maintain your sobriety.
If you are committed to your recovery and want to know how to resist the urge to relapse, this short and simple guide is for you.
Create a Plan of Action
One of the best ways to avoid relapse is to create a plan of action for your recovery. Wanting to return to your unhealthy habit is inevitable, so it’s important to know how you will handle your urge. Create a plan of who you will call, what actions you will take, and a list of methods you will use to remain sober.
You can start your plan by reading this helpful article on how to stop a relapse.
Change Your Environment
A helpful way to avoid an alcohol relapse is to change your environment. Seeing the same places and faces can remind you of your addiction and make you want to use again. Change your environment and give yourself a fresh start.
Learn Your Triggers
Avoiding a drug relapse is all about knowing your triggers. Common triggers are stress, negative emotions, life problems, and some that may surprise you. Learn your triggers and healthy ways to handle them to ensure sobriety.
Replace Your Habit
An ideal way of avoiding a relapse is to replace your unhealthy habit with a new and healthy habit. You can replace your addiction with art, exercise, music, and other healthy habits.
Replacing the habit fills the void of your addiction. It gives you something to focus on and distract from any urges you may have.
Use Visualization
A helpful tip for how to avoid relapse is to use visualization. If you are feeling the urge to use, imagine your urge as an ocean wave. See yourself riding the wave, instead of the wave enveloping you. This visualization will help with the overwhelming feelings of your cravings and reinforce the fact that they are temporary and manageable.
Create a Reminder
A powerful exercise to avoid relapsing is to create and carry a reminder with you of why you are sober. Make a list of every reason you beat your addiction, including the good and the bad. Whenever you feel the urge to relapse, read your list to remind yourself of the bigger picture.
Use These Tips to Avoid Relapsing
By using these tips, you can avoid relapsing and maintain your sobriety.
Start by creating a plan of action for your recovery. Change your environment, learn your triggers, and replace your unhealthy habit with a new, healthy one. Create reminders of why you got sober, use visualization techniques, and make sure to get support.
Follow these tips to live a healthy and sober life.
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