Another way to best deal with this is by not allowing yourself to fall into the negativity of life. You cannot go through life comparing your recovery with someone else’s. If you struggle to get past the first few days and see someone who has just celebrated a year in recovery, do not be mad at where you are. As individuals in recovery, we are fighting the same war.
Step 2: Meet your house manager & Move in
The question is, how can the past be left behind so that moving forward can begin? Perhaps even more pertinent to some is what to do when moving forward means leaving the past behind? What if you really don’t want to ditch everything from the past? What happens when you live with someone who is part of your addictive past?
Endings are always beginnings so feel both.
At the outset, let’s be clear that there are no universally right answers. Each person needs to figure out the best approach to making a new life in recovery. Whether this involves compromise or complete cutting off from the past is a purely individual choice. It is also important to remember that choices can be changed. With new information, new goals, new friends, hope and courage, all things are possible.
- Maybe that dear friend will one day come to the decision to go into treatment and get clean and sober.
- Michael J. Rounds is the author of 10,000 Days Sober and an addiction recovery specialist at a correctional facility in Indiana.
- It fosters empathy, makes a positive impact, and improves mental health.
- There is also the possibility that your relationship will fracture to the point of breaking.
- At that time, it will be your turn to be fully supportive and encouraging of your spouse’s recovery efforts.
Meet Rick DelValle, the founder of Victory Programs
Here, then, are some thoughts on leaving the past behind and moving forward to new beginnings. Nothing eases the pain of letting go of the past and old friends like the making of new friends, engaging in new activities, and learning how to live a happy life in sobriety. Since you never know who might become a friend, the wise approach may be to behave as though every person you meet might one day be more than just a casual acquaintance.
Starting Life in Recovery: 5 Tips For Your New Beginning
But it may also bring the two of you closer together. There is also the possibility that your relationship will fracture to the point of breaking. If your spouse continues to use and the temptation for you to join in becomes overwhelming, Victory Programs you may have no choice but to force a separation. Physically removing yourself from the toxic environment, even if it is only for a while, may be the only sane answer to you being able to maintain your sobriety. Naturally, this is an extremely personal and painful decision, not one that you’d make lightly.
You do not have to be great or even good at something for it to have a worthwhile benefit in this part of your story. This may be the most difficult and important prompt on your journey. We cannot be good at everything we try, and that’s something to be grateful for. Practice sitting comfortably with the thought of being just okay at something. Let’s share a few tips together to prepare yourself for the first steps of your new beginning. Individuals who are in recovery cannot allow themselves to become overwhelmed.
This doesn’t mean that you have to act other than your conscience dictates. After all, some people may not be good candidates for friendship, but might be better as casual acquaintances. Use discretion, but be courteous, polite, open and willing to engage in conversation – if the opportunity permits.