When looking to get clean from your addiction, rehab offers the best opportunity to reclaim your life in long-term sobriety. However, how much you get out of rehab is highly dependent on your mindset. Going to rehab with the wrong attitude raises the chances of a relapse.
The success of your rehab treatment revolves entirely around your readiness to take charge of your addiction. Starting rehab may not be a walk in the park, but when you become committed to sobriety, it will be the best decision you ever made for yourself.
Here are four tips to help you get into the right frame of mind for an addiction treatment program.
1. Shift Your Focus From What You Are Giving Up
Many fail to enter rehab because each time they do, they get lost in thoughts about all that has to be given up if they do. When you are ready to sign up for an addiction treatment program, it is crucial that you end the self-sabotage by shifting your focus from the things you will have to give up.
As you make the shift, some of the following thoughts may pop up:
- All the fun times you have had when using
- The escape from reality you enjoyed
- Losing the friends you get drunk or high with
- The clubs, bars, houses, and all other fun places you always frequent
It’s important that you understand that having these thoughts is normal. What’s essential is that you don’t let them occupy your mind for too long. Remember how important the journey ahead of you is.
2. Do Not Overthink The Withdrawal Period
Another mindset similar to focusing on what’s been given up is concentrating too much on withdrawal. Many addicts cannot overcome the fear of a painful and unpleasant withdrawal.
Instead, remember that no matter how uncomfortable withdrawal can get, it’s nothing compared to a lifetime of instability, ill health, and all other life-threatening choices that drug and alcohol abuse cause. Think about all the damaging effects of addiction. Your desire to beat them should beat the fear of the withdrawal period.
Many addicts in recovery have described the withdrawal as nothing more serious than the normal flu. Additionally, with the right addiction treatment program, you will get a supervised medical detox that will grant the highest possible comfort during the short withdrawal period.
Let go of any preconceived notions of what recovery should look like. If you know someone who tried and failed, recognize that recovery differs for everyone. Sometimes it’s something as simple as how rehab and withdrawal periods are depicted on movies and tv shows that are weighing you down.
Open-mindedness will be your best technique when approaching recovery. Accept the uncertainty of what your journey will look like, but trust yourself enough to try. Letting go of these fears will open you up to the endless possibilities of recovery as you look forward to learning and embracing the new life ahead.
3. Focus On All The Benefits Of The Addiction Treatment Program
While letting go of the things you leave behind by going to rehab, focus on everything you will get by going clean. You will notice that the benefits outweigh everything you are giving up. Once you start recovery:
- You will start having better health
- You will make new friends
- You will develop healthier hobbies
- You will strengthen your old important relationships as you build new ones.
- You will experience more clarity in your life
- You will have more output and function better at work
- You will improve all aspects of your personal and social life
One great approach to making this positive shift is, for every negative thought on what you will have to give up, respond to it with an even greater benefit you will get through rehab. For instance, when you think about all the friends you will lose when you get sober, remind yourself that you will also make new, more meaningful friendships.
If you think of the pain of withdrawal, tell yourself that others have done it and their life turned around for the better.
4. Remain Hopeful And Trust Yourself
It is not uncommon for anyone with an active addiction to doubt their recovery. Many still think that they are in control and can stop using on their own. Recovery also symbolizes a very drastic life change, which some may find frightening.
The fear of getting sober and later relapsing also hits hard for many. It’s normal to get terrified when you think about doing all the work just to fall off the wagon. However, there’ll be much to learn about relapses in the program. You will learn that sometimes relapses are part of the journey, and it’s not the end of the world.
You will learn coping mechanisms and how to deal with triggering thoughts. For every fear you have, there is always a solution to address it in recovery. One of the major ways to make it through your treatment is to have a positive attitude. It means letting go of your past and exploring a new, healthier future. It means understanding you are worthy and deserve to get help.
It also means focusing on all the resources and skills you will gain to help you remain sober for the rest of yourself. It means fully committing to the program because you deserve health, happiness, and sobriety. Lastly, it means trusting yourself to go through with it and remaining hopeful that you will make it to sobriety.
Get the Right Mind Frame For The Best Results
When struggling with an addiction, it’s easy to come up with many reasons why you shouldn’t or cannot enter rehab. But one primary reason goes above all these – your life. Going to rehab and recovery is reclaiming your life. You get your health back and can now start enjoying everything in life that your addiction has taken away.
Recovery begins by adopting the right mindset toward recovery, rehab, and your future. It starts by seeing life outside addiction, but mostly by believing in yourself. You got this!
