Along with the stigma of substance use comes the media-glorified tradition of the intervention. When someone has a problem with substance use, family and friends conspire to talk them into or even force them into getting help. Being an unwitting and unwilling victim of other people’s good intentions is the least effective start to your recovery process. Sometimes, it still happens, though. Whether you got here with “help” or you got here of your own desire for help, there is one question that is always worth asking: How can I get the most out of my recovery?
The answer is you.
Let it Go
Whatever your process was for getting here, leave that behind. The resentment you may be holding onto about people who pushed or forced you into treatment is not helping anyone. Words that were said to you or about you in the past because of your substance use will not help you get anywhere. Your own reservations about coming to treatment, your fears, your past failures… none of this is helping anyone, least of all you. And all of it is history now. You are here, you are ready, and your success depends upon you. So just let go of everything else and take a leap of faith.
Open Your Mind
There are lots of preconceived notions floating around about what treatment for substance use is. Don’t let them cloud your judgment. Recovery is a personal experience. The best treatment facilities allow you to choose from many treatment options to personalize your own treatment. That means that your treatment can be whatever you want it to be.
When you open your mind to the possibilities in recovery, possibilities become open to you. For example, if you thought that treatment for substance use was all about sobriety, you can think again. Treatment can be so much more than stopping our substance use. Treatment involves many mental, physical, and spiritual factors that help us to dig deep and look at why we used substances in the first place. It is about healing, mentally and physically from the harm we have suffered, and it is about learning new ways of thinking and behaving in order to live a holistically healthier life going forward.
Make the Choice
The process of your recovery begins when you make the choice. You buy into the healing process when you decide you want more for yourself and your life. This is a decision that only you can make. All of the therapy and classes and yoga and meditation and whatever other treatment methods are happening won’t make a difference in your life long-term until you make the choice.
Recovery is yours. While there are a lot of people around who want this for you, while they will do anything and everything in their power to help you, they cannot do it for you. Only you have the power to make the changes. Only you can make the choice.
Do the Work
Once you have decided and made the commitment to yourself and your life to not only stop using substances, or to get treatment for your substance use, but to also recover your life and live powerfully going forward, then you must do the work. Again, no one else can do this for you. You need to dig deep. Do every little thing you can to make this change. Do all of the big, hard things that you need to do to make this change. When you do the work, you become the change.
Doing the work means truly learning mindfulness. Showing up for meditation not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally. Doing the work means truly making the most of your therapy sessions by being alert, conscious, and willing to learn. Doing the work means looking inward and learning more about yourself, about why you used substances, and how you can fortify yourself going forward. Doing the work means doing everything you can at all times to be the person you want to be.
Reap the Rewards
No one else can make the choice for you. No one else can do the work for you. And no one else can reap the rewards like you. When you do everything that you can to maximize your recovery process, then you also get the maximum rewards. You can have a certain freedom that comes with committing to staying free of substances. You can have the peace of mind that comes when you have done the work and are healing from your past pain. You can have the joy in knowing that you are the captain of your own ship and the security of knowing that what you have learned will help you to keep you at the helm of your life going forward.
How do I get the most out of my recovery? That is a question that only you can answer. You are the only one who has complete control over your recovery experience. No one else can do it for you. No matter how you got here or who got you here, you have to be the reason that you stayed. You have to be the reason that all of this happens. And when you make that choice and do the work, you will be the one who reaps the rewards. Make your choice. Change your life. Take control today.
Maximize your recovery process by calling AToN Center at (888) 535-1516. Make the call today and take control of your recovery and your life today.
