Around 90% of people who have gone through addiction treatment will relapse at least once. It’s incredibly common and importantly, there’s no shame in it. What’s also important to note is that doesn’t mean you have failed and you should slip back into your old ways.
While a relapse can do that to many people, as well as also being fatal in some cases, the vast majority of that 90% find their way back to sobriety and even become stronger for it.
So, if you’ve spent time in alcohol rehab and have faced a tricky period in recovery or have relapsed as a result of picking up the bottle. Here are five reasons you can recover from it and keep your life on track…
Table of Contents
Learning Opportunity
One of the first things to do is use it as a learning opportunity. It can provide you with important insight into triggers, vulnerabilities and areas for growth in your recovery. By examining the circumstances that led to your relapse, you can gain a much deeper understanding of your addiction and ensure you develop strategies to prevent such a relapse happening again. Therefore, it can be something you acknowledge, take on board and learn from.
Renewed Motivation
It may be that your eye came off the ball a little during your recovery and actually by relapsing you find a renewed sense of motivation and commitment to the recovery process.
There’s no doubt that by relapsing you’ll become frustrated and disappointed, which can serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of sobriety, allowing them to become more determined for it not to happen again in their recovery journey.
Increased Resilience
Facing setbacks is an important part of life. Not in the setback itself but how you overcome that. This can build resilience and perseverance that will hold people in good stead for future challenges. By successfully navigating a relapse, it can be a real confidence boost to be able to withstand temptation and manage stress, as well as continue to build coping skills and re-enter recovery in an even stronger position.
Access to Support
Relapse often serves as a prompt for people to seek additional support and get further expertise around their addiction. That could be in the form of a support group, therapy or connecting with peers. By reimmersing yourself in that, it can build a more supportive environment to navigate any further challenges and maintain sobriety after relapsing.
Opportunity for Growth and Healing
Finally, at every stage of recovery there is room for growth and healing. It’s a journey of that and relapse does not change that. It doesn’t negate the progress you’d already made or stunt the progression for further growth.
Instead, you should embrace the opportunity for growth after relapse by addressing the underlying issues that may have caused it and seek out further coping mechanisms and positive lifestyle changes. By confronting such challenges head on, you can come out the other side of a relapse stronger, wiser and more resilient than ever before.
Relapse isn’t the end of your story of sobriety. It’s purely a chapter and there’s still very much a happy ending in sight.
