The decision to end your ongoing battle with alcohol and drug addiction was a hard one to make. When you finally came to the place in your life where you could clearly see and feel the pain and suffering that your addictions had caused to yourself and to your loved ones, you started to take the first steps on what has been a long and difficult journey. That journey does not end when you are sober and drug free.
Once you have become drug or alcohol free, you need a relapse prevention plan. Relapse is a danger to be aware of constantly. If you don't have a plan for prevention, you may relapse quite by accident.
Relapse is likely to occur when the stresses of life are pounding us down, or when the loneliness of life without our drinking and partying companions becomes unbearable. When we are vulnerable, that is when we are in danger of falling back into the comforting arms of our addiction. However, those aren’t the most common reasons that addicts relapse. The most common cause of relapse is when we begin to believe that we are in control of the addiction, and not the other way around. We hear a little voice in our head that tells us “I can have just one drink, I can take just one pill, I’m stronger now, and I’m not depressed nor am I am angry. I can handle myself.”
Usually, the little voice was lying and we didn’t only have one, nor did we handle ourselves. Relapse happens not because we are weak, but because we were not diligent. For just one moment, if we let go of the control we hold of our addiction, the addiction wins. Having a plan already in place to prevent relapse when we first begin recovery, is the only way to avoid it.
For every individual, relapse prevention is unique, but creating a plan to deal with potential triggers that lead to relapse is as important to recovery as turning down that first drink. Knowing the signs that indicate the dangers of relapse are of utmost importance. If you have been down this road before, try to remember what was going on in your life prior to any previous relapse. Then you can start to work on dealing with any similar situations in your life now.
Emotional support is something that every addict needs in order to help prevent relapse. Having someone who we can turn to that will offer encouragement, advice, or just a shoulder to cry on is going to make every step of the road to recovery easier.
Create and stick to a relapse prevention plan! |
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