When you decide to get sober, you most likely think that you are merely stopping drug or alcohol use and ridding your body of toxins. While this is a significant part of the recovery process, you will also have to unlearn all of the negative traits and behaviors that resulted from addiction. Getting sober can mean getting clean from drugs and alcohol, but it also means regaining your life through healthy coping mechanisms and learning to be a better person.
What You Need to Unlearn
Some would say the easy part of recovery is detoxing and living life without drugs or alcohol. The challenging part is unlearning the destructive behavior you took part in while living in active addiction. These behaviors may include lying, stealing, sneaking around, cheating, belittling, abusing, blaming, and hating. They may have enabled your addiction to continue, but they will not serve you in recovery. You cannot expect to heal without making any changes to your life, and choosing to enter into rehab is not enough. You must put in the work to rid yourself of these behaviors and becoming a better person.
Becoming a Better Person
You’ll find that you will gain more self-love and self-respect over time as you work to cope in healthy ways and deal with cravings. As you make time for the ones you love and the things you enjoy doing, you may find yourself recovering faster than you imagined. However, you must remember that everyone heals at their own speed and learns lessons at the right times for them.
Some specific things you can do to help yourself in your recovery are:
- Be compassionate
- Offer support
- Be flexible
- Follow-through
- Prove yourself
- Know who you are
Recovery is full of hills and valleys as you learn how to live life without drugs or alcohol and how to cope with life’s obstacles properly. You are not only “getting sober” from drugs and alcohol; you are ridding yourself of the negative attitudes and behaviors that resulted from your addiction. Many patients at Alta Loma have had to undergo the learning process of realizing their recovery is not only about drugs and alcohol. Our team of experts can guide you along the way to becoming your best self and unlearning the behaviors that are holding you back. Call Alta Loma today at (866) 457-3843 to learn more about becoming the best version of yourself.
