Welcome to Enhancing Recovery,
Part 1.
I'm Dr.
Lynn Brown.
Today's topic is the 10 ideals of successful recovery.
Recovery begins from within,
But it's also strongly influenced by the people around you and the environment you live in.
In an ideal world,
Your recovery is based on the following 10 principles of success.
1.
You believe that recovery is possible.
Unless you believe in the possibility of recovery and can generate some hope for a better future,
You'll have a difficult time overcoming the bumps on the road intrinsic to any recovery journey.
Do you believe your recovery is possible?
If not,
What ideas about who you are stand in your way?
If you do,
Why do you believe recovery is possible for you?
2.
You define your own goals and choose your own recovery process.
Ideally,
You decide for yourself where you want to be and how you'll get there.
There are a lot of paths to success and many different ways to achieve recovery,
But you'll never get there unless you're striving towards what you really want.
What are your life goals and what path do you need to take to achieve these goals?
3.
You understand that there is no one right way.
Just as no two people are alike,
No two recovery journeys will follow the same path.
Your history,
Your cultural background,
Your health,
Your motivation,
Desires,
And a thousand other things influence your unique needs.
What worked for someone else might not work for you.
Follow your heart and find something that feels right.
But remember,
For most people with substance abuse disorders,
Abstinence is usually the best course of action,
No matter how you decide to get there.
Do you believe that abstinence is the best course of action for you?
If not,
What recovery journey do you feel is best for you?
4.
You integrate your recovery into everything in your life.
You know that your recovery is not something you separate from the rest of your life.
You integrate your recovery into the way you take care of your mind,
Body,
And soul,
And it factors into every important decision you make,
From where you live to what you do for a living,
And to whom you spend your time with.
How are you going to integrate recovery into your life?
How will you take care of your mind,
Body,
And soul?
5.
You make use of the strength,
Support,
And expertise of others also in recovery.
By involving yourself with support or self-help groups with others also in recovery,
You take advantage of shared knowledge and experience about what works and what doesn't from a group of people facing very similar trials and challenges.
What support or self-help groups will you be participating in to help your sobriety?
6.
You make an effort to surround yourself with people who support your recovery.
One of the toughest parts of many people's recovery journey is making sure to only surround yourself with people who believe in your recovery and act in ways that support it.
These people will encourage your efforts and help you stay motivated when times get rough.
People like this will try hard not to act in ways that jeopardize your recovery.
Who will you be sure to surround yourself with in order to help your recovery journey?
Who will you choose to walk away from in order to help your recovery journey?
7.
You choose a recovery path that fits with your culture and values.
Your actions need to make sense within your cultural environment,
And nothing in your recovery journey should contradict your deeply held values or beliefs.
A recovery journey which is not culturally appropriate is unlikely to yield long-term success.
What cultural values of yours need to be taken into consideration for your recovery journey?
8.
As part of your journey,
You deal with past traumas.
Leaving past emotional,
Sexual,
Or physical trauma unexamined endangers your long-term recovery.
As a part of your recovery process,
You need to make sure that you work at achieving some closure over past traumas so that you can shed the anchors of the past as you move toward the future.
Do you have any past traumas that need to be examined and dealt with in order to move forward with your recovery journey?
9.
You make full use of resources within yourself,
Your family,
And your community.
To sustain recovery,
You need to make full use of all resources and support,
Be they at the individual,
Family,
Or community level.
Examples could include taking a sabbatical at work to focus on recovery,
Making use of childcare assistance offered by a sibling,
Or enrolling in low-cost community skills or interest courses arranged by your municipal government.
What you have and what you need will vary greatly,
But what's important is that you put your recovery first and do everything you can to get all the support you can.
What resources do you need to utilize to have the support necessary for your recovery journey?
10.
You find the respect you deserve.
A lack of respect imperils the recovery process.
You deserve respect,
So make sure you surround yourself with treatment professionals,
Friends,
And family that grant you what you deserve.
Though you have a disease,
You do not deserve discrimination or stigma.
Strive to protect your equal rights to respect and fairness,
And if you cannot prevail against those that discriminate,
Extract yourself from these unhealthy environments.
Are there any people in your life who do not give you the respect you deserve?
If so,
You will need to communicate with them to assure that either they will respect you or they are no longer in your life.
The reference for this topic is SAMHSA,
A working definition of recovery from mental disorders and substance abuse disorders.
Copyright 2017,
Lynn Baranius-Brown,
Published by Best Life Publications.
No part of this audio recording may be produced without permission from the copyright owner.
