Maintaining a drug-free lifestyle is possible. Numerous people have done it and you can do it too. It all boils down to taking things one step at a time and making everything simpler for you. Building a drug-free lifestyle is returning to the basics. It is returning to a time when you don’t rely on anything but yourself. You have done it before and there is no reason whatsoever as to why you can’t do it again. You can do anything that you put your mind to. You simply need to decide on it and proceed with clear actions. To help you on your journey, we talked to experts and asked for tips. In our research, we were able to come up with five main things that you could do now to help you maintain abstinence and have a truly drug-free lifestyle. Relax, read on, and get ready to live the life that you’ve always imagined!
1. Be Surrounded by a Supportive Community
It is important that you start building a loving, respectful, kind, and supportive community. It’s important that you become an active part of it. It’s important that you surround yourself with it. This is the case because it is very easy to get tempted on using substances again if you’d still choose to surround yourself with people who tempted you to use them in the first place. This step is doable by keeping in mind these definite actions:
- avoid being with people who were involved in your former drinking or drug-using lifestyle
- avoid the people who helped you get drugs
- avoid people who use drugs
- avoid your former drinking buddies
- develop new friendships that are not centered on drug use or drinking
- develop new social patterns
- participate in enriching leisure activities
You should consult with your rehab counselor if you’re having a hard time doing the following. Your rehab counselor will be able to easily identify supportive and drug-free family and friends that can help you in your journey. You can be involved in new social groups if you have no drug-free friends or loved ones.
2. Be Physically Active
Regular exercise or physical activity is the best stand-in for addictive substances. Always choose to be physically active instead whenever you feel the urge to use it. It’s highly effective and advisable for you to use exercise as a stand-in because exercising and drug use both affect the same parts of your brain. Both activities activate your reward pathway that triggers feel-good hormones. Why use drugs when you can feel happy and high in exactly the same way if you’d exercise instead? Exercising regularly will not only help you in maintaining a drug-free lifestyle, but it will also give massive health and wellness benefits.
3. Have a Structured Routine
The secret to living a peaceful, harmonious, and love-filled life is consistency. This is equally the case for all people may they be with or without a substance use history. The more consistent your life is, the more relaxed you would be. The easiest way to achieve this is by creating a structured schedule or routine to follow. With a structured schedule that you can consistently follow every day, it will be impossible for you to stray from your goal of having a drug-free lifestyle. Make your routine as simple and uncomplicated as possible. One is more prone to doing questionable and risky behavior when one’s schedule is chaotic and disorganized. Scheduling and taking full control of how your day goes is the sure-fire way to get hold of that trajectory of your life.
Experts from Calm Rehab Bali advise recovering substance users to first start with a daily schedule and then slowly move to a weekly schedule. Faithfully observing a daily schedule will be extremely beneficial, relaxing, and consoling to a person with a clear goal in mind.
4. Have Expanded Goals
Having a long-term goal in life will also greatly help anyone who is trying to maintain a drug-free lifestyle. This will work perfectly as having clear identifiable goals help people in feeling motivated, disciplined, and focused. Goals are always something that a person could use to center themselves in times of confusion or conflict. Long-term goals that can help you achieve a drug-free lifestyle are as follows:
- returning to school
- having a diploma
- forging a career path
- saving for financial stability
You can easily do this by closely working with your follow-up counselor. Your follow-up counselor can help you determine things that bring you joy and truly add deep fulfillment to your life.
5. Develop a Spiritual Lifestyle
Developing a spiritual lifestyle is highly beneficial for people who aim to maintain abstinence because such a way of living allows individuals to fully access their center and inner self. Being spiritual does not have to mean that you’re all holy and zen 24/7. It does not have to make you feel pressured or weird at all. There is no one sure way to achieve spirituality and you’re very free to create your own path. In fact, you may have already participated in one if you’ve been part of a 12-step group. There is nothing wishy-washy about spirituality. It’s as simple as remaining quiet and trying your best to listen to your thoughts and the command of your heart. This in turn connects you to a higher power that you can always return to should your will weaken. That higher power could be your higher self or the Universe or God. You will be very free to decide on that matter. Spirituality will not demand that you pray or be religious. It will only demand that you be true to yourself. It is in being supremely true to yourself and your goal that you will find success in maintaining a drug-free lifestyle.