Making a decision after we battle addiction, can feel surprisingly overwhelming. What if you make the wrong choice? What if your decision triggers a relapse? Even if you feel confident to make a decision, it can be hard to know what the best choice for your recovery is. It’s important to learn to use the tools learned in recovery for problem solving and putting trust in ourselves to make better choices than the ones that led us to addiction.
One of the best things you can do to set yourself up to make better choices after addiction is to stop seeing everything in black and white. Not every aspect of life is, or should be, all or nothing. Feeling that you can only fully succeed or completely fail only narrows the way you look at a situation. When we’re not flooding our own minds with negative thoughts or feelings, we have the opportunity to make better decisions without worrying that it’s a now or never situation.
Don’t be afraid to give yourself a reality check. At some stages of recovery, we simply may not be capable yet of making the decision in front of us on our own. Have the courage to ask a close family member or your counselor about the situation you’re facing, especially if you’re not entirely sure of all the options on the table. You build your support system during recovery for a reason, to enable you to turn to it when you need help after addiction, don’t hesitate to use it and talk things out when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
It’s important to be able to step back and recognize when your emotions may be compromising the decisions you make. Just like substance use can affect your choices, strong emotions, especially for those early in recovery, can make a difference in what you decide to do. Being able to see that you may not be making a sound decision is often a sign to put a pin in the subject if possible. You can always revisit it another time when you’re more ready, but if you make the wrong decision too quickly based on a potentially fleeting wave of emotion, it could have lasting impacts on your life or recovery.
Making better choices after addiction comes down to trusting yourself to do what’s best for you, whether it’s making a choice, talking it through with someone you trust, or waiting for another day.
You want to make the right choice when it comes to treatment. The Springboard Center knows that you and your family deserve quality clinical care for your loved one. Our 5-week program offers the best in accessible mental health care serving the Permian Basin. Call us today: (432) 620-0255
