Category: Life Skills

Staying healthy in recovery is a process that affects everyone differently. One of the biggest concerns people in recovery face is avoiding triggers that could result in relapse. People, places, activities, and other things can bring back memories of past drug or alcohol use and result in intense cravings. Knowing how to identify triggers and preparing yourself to fight them will help you stay on track with your sobriety.

What are Triggers?

After using substances for a substantial amount of time, the brain creates associations between certain things in your life that can remind you of prior drug or alcohol use. Being reminded of past usage can easily result in intense cravings for the substances you used to use. Being able to recognize the things in your life that cue intense cravings will help you avoid them throughout your recovery.

Common Triggers

Triggers are different for each person. But, there are common types of triggers that many people face throughout their time in recovery. These cues can be people, places, things, events, and even emotions.

People

Being around substance-using people is one of the most common causes of relapse. Anyone from former drug dealers, to old friends who invite you out to parties with drugs and alcohol can trigger a relapse. This not only applies to people who use substances. Even close friends or family may say or do something that can cause you to want to use drugs or alcohol again.

Places

If there are any places you associate with substance use, it’s best to avoid them. These include places like concerts, bars and clubs, specific neighborhoods or houses where you used to use drugs or alcohol, and more. From the rooms where drinking or drug use took place to those familiar smells that evoke memories of abusive behavior, places can have a powerful effect on recovery. It’s best to avoid these triggers at all costs.

Things

There are objects in your life that may cause memories to flood back and increase your urge to use drugs or alcohol. These could be movies where people are using substances, drug paraphernalia, drugs or alcohol, or anything else you associate with prior substance use. It can be as simple as seeing a lighter or a certain glass in the cabinet. Get rid of these items, regardless of the sentimental value they may have. Throw them away or, if they are valuable, give them to a trusted friend or relative for safekeeping.

Events

Unfortunately, parties and celebrations often involve temptations like alcohol. It’s difficult to avoid birthday parties, company happy hours, graduation parties, or anything else where people are celebrating with alcohol. Having someone attend with you to help you stay away from any temptations is key to staying sober in these situations.

Emotions

Emotions are considered internal triggers, and they’re usually much more difficult to avoid than external triggers. Anger, fear, jealousy, loneliness, boredom, and depression are just some of the emotional states that can cause stress and relapse. Recognizing your emotions and having a plan in place to deal with them in healthy ways will help you cope with these types of triggers.

Developing an Action Plan

Recognizing your triggers is an excellent first step. Learning to live with them is what will keep you healthy throughout recovery. In an ideal world you would never encounter a trigger, but in the real world that’s unlikely to happen. Preparing for triggers is crucial to the recovery process. Having someone who cares about you and understands your triggers can make a world of difference.

Staying healthy in recovery and learning how to cope with triggers is extremely difficult, but a strong support system can help you. If you or someone you love is struggling to stay healthy in recovery, we offer residential treatment as well as intensive outpatient treatment for those in recovery. Reach out to us today.

Many people who struggle to overcome substance use disorders feel stigmatized, alone, and lost in their own bodies and minds. Being physically dependent on substances that negatively impact your life can affect everything about a person. Making the choice to enter recovery is one of the best ways to restore your spirit after battling the addictive cycle.

Throughout your recovery journey, you’ll be focusing on restoring your mind and body. Only after you’ve eliminated the toxins that have affected your body and soul can you truly restore your spirit, happiness, and hope for a better future.

The Mind, Body and Spirit Connection

After making the decision to get help with a substance use disorder, you may either try to stop cold turkey or enter a rehabilitation facility to go through a medical detox. It’s likely you’ll experience multiple withdrawal symptoms such as shakes, nausea, depression, anxiety, mood swings, and a number of other ailments. Medical detox can help ease the pain of detox, although nothing can really eliminate it.

After you have detoxed, many rehab facilities offer some form of exercise option for patients. Taking care of your physical health will help you better understand how much a healthy body impacts your mindset. After gaining more control and insight into your body and mind, restoring your spirit will follow.

Once you have gone through detox and started your recovery process, you’ll be inundated with options for therapy. Individual, group, art, equine, and so many more therapies available at rehab facilities aim to restore your mind. You’ll be able to discover the underlying cause of your addiction and begin working on those deeper issues. If you suffer from anxiety or depression due to your substance use, therapy will help you work on overcoming and managing those disorders. Overall, therapy in recovery is a critical part of your mental restoration, and ultimately the restoration of your spirit.

Restoration of the Spirit

Hope lives at the core of the human spirit. It encompasses everything about you. Your mind, your feelings, your body, and so much more. After any amount of time spent dealing with substance abuse, it’s easy to think you will never be able to get back to the person you were before.

Post-detox recovery will help you learn to manage physical urges, emotional triggers, and boundary setting. You will also have the opportunity to attend individual and group therapy sessions to better understand yourself and the causes behind your use of drugs or alcohol. Although you won’t be in a recovery house forever, it’s an incredible step toward ongoing salvation and the renewal of your spirit.

Staying Strong

Soon after attending rehab, it’s likely that you still won’t feel confident in your ability to stay sober once you’re on your own again. Over time, as you work on your mind, body, and spirit, you will begin to trust yourself more and more. Although many people in recovery still fight for their sobriety daily, the longer you stay in recovery the more likely you are to have hope for the future and trust in your ability to stay sober.

Overcoming a substance use disorder affects all aspects of a human being. Attending rehab and actively working on recovery will give you the best possible foundation for a healthy, sober life.

If you or someone you love is ready to get help with their addiction, reach out to us today to get started. We offer outpatient treatment as well as residential treatment and would love to help you in the next stage of your recovery.