Keeping a balanced life can be difficult. It becomes even more difficult when substance use begins to interfere with professional life, personal relationships, and more. What may have begun as simply social or fun experiences, as a coping mechanism, a medical necessity, or as an escape from life has taken control of everything else in our lives. Help is difficult to ask for, but when life is so far out of balance, it is time to find the balance again.
First Step to Finding Balance
The first step in finding balance is to admit that balance is missing in our lives. This can be very difficult. For all of the successes in life, dependency on alcohol or drugs can skew life and draw attention away from our family, relationships, career, and more. People are quick to place labels and judge behaviors, but that does not need to define who we are.
The first step in taking control back and achieving harmony in life is to look in the mirror and see that dependency is pulling us off the path to our success. It is interfering with our relationships and harming those that we love. We can take back our lives, we can find that balance again, but we need medical help to rid ourselves of the dependency, and professional therapeutic help to help us keep that balance.
Cleansing the Body
Chemical dependency can take its toll on the human body. Going through a period to detoxify our bodies and purify them can create the physical foundation for balance and wellness in our lives. In addition to detoxification, our bodies can be further strengthened and balance restored through holistic treatment methods such as massage and acupuncture. These treatments help to improve physical health and balance as well as improving overall balance in our minds as well.
Cleansing the Mind
When chemical dependency pulls our lives out of balance, the mind is impacted both physiologically and emotionally. It becomes necessary to cleanse the mind both in a physical sense of becoming sober and abstaining from substances, and also to cleanse the mind from an emotional standpoint. Looking at why we became dependent in the first place can help us to find the balance we need to stay on our path to success.
Once our bodies are clear of substances, there are many tools available to help us find and achieve balance in our minds. Daily personal therapy helps us to explore our minds and empowers us to find new ways of thinking. Therapists can use effective and proven methods, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy(CBT,) biofeedback, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR,) and other best practices for recovery. Working with certified and trained professionals will allow us to heal and reach our fullest potential as we seek our own path in life.
Additionally, there are programs such as 12-Step or SMART Recovery programs that help empower us and give us valuable tools as we learn to take control back of our lives and become balanced again. Within these programs, we can personalize our journey and find the methods that work for us as individuals.
Balancing the Body
As important as it is to cleanse our bodies, it is also important to allow them and find positive outlets that will help maintain balance. This can include playing sports, swimming, working out in the gym, doing yoga, or many other activities. While recovering from substance use, moving our bodies and using them regularly helps us renew or create new physical habits and discipline which in turn creates harmony in our lives.
What we put into our bodies determines what we are able to do with our bodies. Eating healthy is an important component of achieving balance. Eating well-proportioned, balanced, regular meals allows our bodies to heal and to be more productive. Combined with physical exercise, good nutrition allows our bodies to support what we want to achieve mentally and emotionally.
When our minds are cleansed of substances and medical and therapeutic methods are facilitating our healing, we can achieve new levels of balance in our mind through practices such as meditation. When we meditate, we learn to balance our thoughts, negative and positive. We learn to be centered and live in the present. This helps us to achieve an emotional and mental balance that supports happiness and success in all areas of our lives.
We can rise above stereotypes and labels and still acknowledge that our lives are not in our control. When substance use has impacted or taken precedence over the most important aspects of our lives, such as family, relationships, and career, then it is time for us to be strong and ask for help. That balance we seek is possible once again, but it is not something we can achieve without professional help from medical experts, or we would have already found it on our own. In order for us to restore harmony in our lives, we must first be willing to acknowledge that we need that help.
The AToN Center is committed to helping you find balance again in your life. With a staff of caring and qualified professionals in our private and luxurious settings, we offer a personalized and holistic approach to recovery from alcohol or drug addiction.
Don’t wait another day to achieve the balance you crave in your life. Call AToN Center at (888) 813-5928 to change your life today.
