The addiction recovery journey comes with a significant makeover and inner peace you may never have experienced before.
We go beyond the rooted emotional routines and fears that caused severe pain and create new, healthy habits and patterns that serve you better as you progress with life. We also gain a new set of coping skills, a newfound sense of self, and valuable knowledge to share with others.
But with everything we improve within us and everything we stand to gain, we must also make several sacrifices along the way.
What Must You Sacrifice in Addiction Treatment?
As with any other crucial goal, you must prepare to make sacrifices when recovering from substance abuse or taking care of a loved one trying to complete the recovery journey.
While the things to let go of vary with different drug use circumstances, several main sacrifices stand out. Let’s jump in!
Mental Sacrifice in Addiction Treatment
Friends and family members of substance abuse patients make their mental sacrifices. They sacrifice energy, time, heart space, focus, and more to help their loved ones recover from addiction. On the other hand, the patient will experience physical and emotional tools that affect their mental well-being.
Mental sacrifices aid addiction treatment and recovery by relaying a message to those working on their recovery. You may feel split, exhausted, or overwhelmed when walking down the road to recovery with a loved one. The sacrifice begins with care and compassion, but without keeping them in check, your sanity and dignity may start to waver.
The best approach is acknowledging the sacrifices of friends and family and those made by the person fighting to recover. Doing this can open up the door to self-awareness and enlightenment. You’ll learn how to understand, set boundaries, and re-establish your well-being. Those recovering will learn how to let go of the dependency and seek resources to establish new connections.
Sacrifice The Actual Drugs or Substances
Perhaps the drugs themselves are the most obvious sacrifice one has to make to recover from their addiction problem. You have to let go of the behaviors and substances you’ve become attached to and dependent upon and learn to cope without them. You’ll also figure out how to live your life without attempting to escape your pain, numbing yourself, or self-medicating.
As happy as you are to be getting better and healing, letting go of your past habits can feel like a huge sacrifice. The drugs may be destructive and damaging, but the attachment to them may leave you feeling incomplete and empty without them.
They’ve been a massive part of your life for as long as you can remember, but to adequately recover, you must prepare to sacrifice these substances.
Lifestyle and Habit Sacrifices
Besides the drugs we’re addicted to, we also have to sacrifice the habits and lifestyles that supported the dependency and went along with the substances. This might include the regular “members’ day” meetings with your friends at the local bar. It might mean avoiding the events you used to attend and look forward to.
You might also have to separate yourself from the social habits that favored your past addictive behaviors, enabled your patterns, and played a role in your self-destructiveness. All these can feel like a painful, overwhelming sacrifice that you have to mourn losing.
Relationships
Of all the sacrifices to recover, letting go of some relationships can be most challenging to come to terms with. Relationships mean a lot to us. They offer emotional support, companionship, and a sense of stability, security, and safety.
Relationships also make us feel heard, understood, appreciated, and loved, even if everything else is falling apart. Without them, we feel alone.
But when living with addiction, our relationships are always the most significant contributor to mental health issues like anxiety and stress. Most of our partnerships perpetuate and enable our habits. As such, it’s essential to sacrifice their companionship and comfort, prioritizing your genuine wellness over the short-term distraction of attention and affection. If they’re not ready to recover, you may have to erase them from your life altogether.
Ultimately, Sobriety Isn’t a Sacrifice
The main motivations to give up addiction are to escape your current distress and experience a better life.
Evading your suffering could be effective in the short term, but it’s probably not sufficient for you to maintain a sober life long-term. It can be considered a negative motivation for sobriety based on fear and uncertainty.
The problem with this is that you’ll likely forget how bad it was with time, and you’ll lack sufficient motivation to avoid substance abuse. You’ll only focus on sacrificing the substance you’ve grown accustomed to. Either way, this mindset will increase the likelihood of relapsing.
It’ll be much better if you consider recovery an opportunity to improve the quality of your life instead of a sacrifice.
Here’s why you should view things this way:
- Recovering from addiction gives you a second chance in life.
- You can use several practical tools to aid recovery.
- Being sober goes beyond rescuing your life to achieving a life worth living.
- You’ll likely improve your physical and mental health when sober.
- You’ll perform better in your hobbies and at work
- Quitting drugs means becoming a great partner, friend, mother, father, daughter, son, brother, or sister.
- You’ll be able to live a life without guilt
- Sobriety gives you a better chance to start achieving your objectives.
- You can achieve the happiness you’ve never had
Find Someone Who Understands Addiction and Mental Sacrifice
Discussing with someone who understands substance dependency and addiction recovery journey can lift the silence and open up the door for your sacrifices to facilitate healing. An expert will offer valuable insights on sacrifices for addiction treatment and teach you about self-control as you push through the hurdles of recovery.
Caregivers and family members will learn how to leverage mental health toolkits and express their desire to assist those they care about without feeling split between irrational and rational judgments.
The benefits of working with a substance abuse professional cannot be overstated, and fortunately, you’re on the right site.
Covenant Hills has provided a truly unique alternative to traditional substance abuse treatment in Orange County for over three decades. The Christian rehab boasts an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau alongside the highest CARF International accreditation.
The professionals’ treatment modalities are based on clinical expertise and scientific evidence while considering patients’ preferences, cultures, and attributes.
Speak with us via 844-268-8412 or to schedule a visit or get professional insights.
