With the new year on the horizon, many are evaluating their lives and preparing to make resolutions. There is not a better time to evaluate our own lives, our relationship with substance use, and what we want our future to look like. There is no better time than now to begin our recovery journey. We can pack our baggage and say our goodbyes to addiction because it is time that we were moving on. 
Walking Away from Our Past
We all have baggage. Whether it be abuse, divorce, loss, or other trauma, it is not serving us well. The pain we have been holding onto, the reason we started abusing substances, and the substances themselves are all things that have been preventing us from living powerfully and successfully.
Luckily, there is recovery. Entering treatment for addiction allows us to say goodbye, not just to our substance abuse. Holistic recovery allows us to say goodbye to everything that has been holding us back. We can learn how to heal from trauma, from pain, and emotional scars that have been impacting how we view and interact with the world.
There are many ways to help us heal from the past. Individual therapy, for example, can help us work through the pain and trauma we have experienced. We can also work through grief or loss to help us work through those powerful emotions so that we can move forward.
Walking away from our past will not be easy. There is a lot of work to do, and we have to choose our new path. But continuing to destructively drink and use not only impacts our physical and mental well-being but potentially puts us and others at risk. There is no better time than now to walk away from that kind of risk.
Learning New Skills
Moving on means learning new skills. We learn new ways to breathe, think, react, cope, and take care of our mental and physical needs. We learn how to be present, we learn how to reprocess. We learn new ways to view our world and the world around us, and we learn new ways to communicate.
The more we are willing to learn, the more change we can affect in our lives. This is so much more than just becoming sober. We learn about who we are and why we have a substance addiction. Then we learn the skills to help us to completely change the direction of our lives. We are empowered to live differently.
Living in New Ways
When we choose recovery, we are taking responsibility for our lives. We are stopping old behaviors and changing course for a different result. We choose new habits and new ways of looking at ourselves and the world around us. We are free from the substances that controlled us, and we have new skills and perspectives to be able to approach each new day differently.
Building New Relationships
Changing our life course means an opportunity to build new relationships. This can mean applying new clarity and purpose to the relationships we already had. Because romantic and familial relationships, as well as friendships, typically suffer from substance use, we now have the opportunity to restore trust and demonstrate the new life skills we have learned. Communication, in particular, will help to build these new relationships with the existing people in our lives.
Additionally, this is a chance to meet new people. We may choose to find new friends who are also sober and striving to live more empowered and authentic lives. They might be friends we exercise with, friends from work that we have new commonalities with, or friends to spend time with and share both victories and setbacks with. Building these new relationships is powerful, especially with the new focus we have and growing communication skills.
Setting Goals for Our Future
By leaving our past and moving on, we free up so much more emotional space as well as the improved ability to function. This allows us to look to the future and set attainable goals. We no longer need to fear not reaching our goals due to the time and energy our substance abuse demanded of us. Now we are free to dream and to have the availability and determination to reach our goals.
We are able to set goals in our personal and professional life, and with the new skills we have learned, make practical plans to attain those goals. We might set goals for physical fitness, learning new skills at work, completing a project in our home, or learning to cook. We have the mental, emotional and physical freedom to do what we can dream because we have moved on.
We might feel too comfortable in our pain, or feel like we have too much fear to make wholesale changes in our lives. But the legitimate alternative is that the consequences of our substance abuse will only increase on the path we are on, and possibly be fatal. This time of the year is a perfect time to look at the fork in the road and choose the path to wellness instead of the path we have been on. AToN Center is a luxury facility with limited enrollment to give you all the attention you deserve. Choose this path and give yourself the gift of a new life today.
It is time to make a change from your status quo. Time to choose a different path. Call (888) 813-5928 and let AToN Center help you navigate your future.
Grief encompasses a person’s response to loss. Usually grief is thought of as a response to death, but people also grieve the loss of possessions, hopes that never materialized, or pretty much anything else that is lost – including an addictive behavior.
When one transitions from active addiction into recovery there is an amount of loss and gain that is happening. As we allow the loss to take place, we honor all that is lost, make meaning out of the situation, and try not to judge ourselves or our feelings. In doing so, we make room for much to be gained.
