Practical Steps to Help Your Journey to Recovery From Substance Abuse

In 2018, SAMHSA found that one in five individuals over the age of 12 in the U.S. had used an illegal drug within the past year. And as the opioid crisis has continued to hit the news in more recent times, it’s clear that those numbers have only gone up in the present.

But even though substance dependency and addiction may be common, there’s one thing it seems like everyone can agree on:

The road to recovery from substance abuse is often long and hard.

For these reasons, we’ve divided this post up into two separate sections. First, we’ll talk about the logistics of ending substance abuse. And then we’ll cover some of the practical steps involved with making a recovery. Sound good? Keep reading.

Part 1: Here’s How You Can Work on Ending Your Substance Addiction

When you’re caught up in a drug or alcohol-related spiral, the transition from “I want to get sober.” to “I’ve been sober for several years.” is fraught with a lot of obstacles. Here’s our list of practical ways that you can put yourself on the road to recovery:

1. Work With a Professional

For many substances, becoming sober isn’t as simple as just walking away and deleting a few phone numbers. In fact, depending on the drugs you’ve been taking, quitting cold turkey can be dangerous.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse claims that for some types of drug addictions, the first line of treatment should be medication. But even if you haven’t been taking fentanyl or opioids, you can still benefit from speaking to a trained medical professional.

And even if you don’t necessarily need to take medication as a result of your particular addiction, it’s still worthwhile to check in, do physicals, and see if you have any health concerns that could impact your road to recovery.

2. Go Into Therapy

In many cases, finding help with substance abuse isn’t just about managing the physical symptoms of withdrawal. It’s also about treating the conditions and the circumstances that led to up to it.

There are structured, non-medical programs like Alcoholics Anonymous that can give members an instant community of like-minded people. But other common lines of treatment include CBT sessions to work through past traumas and family therapy for those whose substance use may have affected the people around them.

Do you know why places like Recovery Beach have been on the cutting edge when it comes to substance abuse recovery? It’s the simple fact that they don’t just help with the physical aspects of ending a drug or alcohol dependency. They make an effort to treat and address any mental illnesses and underlying traumas that may have led to the substance abuse in the first place.

3. Find Ways to Reduce Your Daily Mental Load

In 2008, Yale professor Rajita Sinha observed that high levels of stress can increase the risks of developing an addiction as well as the odds of relapsing.

While it just makes sense that you’ll want to avoid stress as a general rule, the unfortunate reality is that stress is increasingly becoming par for the course in America. Everyone has to deal with interpersonal conflict, stressful situations at work, and the simple, low-level stress that comes with making decisions around simple things like what to have for dinner.

According to the APA, 84 percent of American adults reported feeling at least one of the emotions associated with extended stress exposure two weeks prior to being surveyed in 2021.

As you work your way back to sobriety, it’ll be important to invest in finding ways to keep your stress levels to a minimum. It can help reduce the temptation to go back to taking substances.

4. Look After Yourself

When it comes to treating a substance abuse addiction, we all want to find a silver bullet that will take care of everything in an instant. But the reality is that sometimes getting good with the fundamentals can be a key part of your recovery process.

As basic as it sounds, things like establishing a regular sleep cycle, practicing mindfulness and meditation, and even exercise can make a major difference in your quality of life.

For many people who are struggling with addiction, establishing good habits and creating day-to-day structure in their lives isn’t easy. But when you can make a point of putting your body first, rebuilding your life and coping with the physical and mental components of managing an addiction becomes a lot easier.

Part 2: Making Your Recovery

Even after you’ve managed to go through a medical treatment plan, your recovery process isn’t over. There are a number of steps that you may have to take after the fact:

1. Be Prepared to Make Serious Lifestyle Changes

For many people who have struggled with addiction, taking drugs or drinking alcohol wasn’t just a matter of accessing and taking substances in isolation. Chances are that you had friends, acquaintances, and an entire lifestyle that revolved around your addiction to a certain extent.

Your recovery will often require you to take a step back and do some intense self-reflection. Are there people in your life who would likely encourage you to go back to taking alcohol or drugs? Do you have an established pattern where you go on binges whenever something stresses you out?

Part of going sober is finding ways to make relapse less likely. And a major part of that process will include taking steps to make permanent and long-lasting changes. We’ll tell you right now that this won’t be a fun process. Reflecting on the hurts, the emotional lows, and the raw pain that may have contributed to your substance abuse will hurt.

In the same way that addiction can create upheaval in people’s lives, recovery often has an equally life-changing effect. And you’ll need to mentally prepare yourself to face the reality that your post-treatment life will likely look very different than it does now.

2. Find Ways of Motivating Yourself

It’s not unusual for many “I can change!” declarations to be kicked off by the personal decision to be alive, healthy, and present for the kids or to save a failing relationship. And while there’s nothing wrong with having those external motivations, it’s also important to realize that recovering from substance abuse can have some similarities to going on a diet or losing weight.

Other people can only motivate you so much. You have to be committed to recovering for your own sake.

To that end, you have to think about the types of rewards that are able to keep you going. Are you one of those people who likes to have a multi-day streak going? Do stickers, chocolate bars, and checklists make it easier for you to stay the course?

When the desire to recover from substance abuse becomes something that you truly want for yourself, it becomes a lot easier to commit to the long-term road to recovery.

3. Try to Find Long-Term Care and Follow-up Solutions

Imagine becoming paralyzed in a car accident or suffering from a serious head injury after sustaining a concussion. It would be insane for your medical team to bandage up the site of the injury, pat you on the back, and send you on your way.

It’s the same thing with substance addiction.

More often than not, it simply isn’t enough to walk away from your in-patient treatment and expect everything else to fall into place. Like someone who has to learn how to walk again or like an individual who needs to live with limitations to their memory capacity, it’s important to have a post-treatment plan in place.

After you’re out of the treatment center, you’ll be back in the real world where your old friends and your old contacts are always a phone call away. The good news is that there are a number of outpatient plans and places where you can seek substance abuse help even if you’re not in a facility. But it’s important for you to know where they are and to find them and to be willing to make connections as you figure out how to recover from substance abuse.

Recovery From Substance Abuse is a Marathon

Finding the best way to recover from substance abuse can be difficult in the best of times. An important part of managing your recovery from substance abuse is understanding that it’s a process. But once you accept that it’s a journey and that you won’t be able to recover overnight, it becomes a lot easier to focus on what matters -your long-term health.

Looking for more advice on substance abuse recovery? Check out the rest of our site.