Alcohol is the fourth most common cause of preventable deaths in the United States. It’s also responsible for numerous health disorders, social upheavals, and psychological disasters.
Becoming a drug and alcohol addict is easy, but getting out of addiction can be a difficult journey. However, you can still become completely sober if you’re patient and dedicated.
The process can also be costly and lead to withdrawal symptoms. So, how do you start and successfully finish your alcohol recovery journey?
Here are the steps that you should follow.
Contemplation
At some point, you’ll realize that you have a severe drinking problem. You now want to take concrete steps and quit alcohol consumption altogether. This is the most difficult step because you’ll be waffling back and forth.
You can do a cost-benefit analysis to get more clarity and understand the immense benefits of alcohol treatment. This will also be a good way to overcome feelings of hopelessness, shame, and guilt. Instead, your focus will shift from living with alcoholism and move towards finding solutions.
Preparation
This is the stage where you engage in meaningful actions to aid your recovery journey. You’ll have arrived at this stage after weeks or months of contemplation.
You’ll still be drinking by this time, but you’ve already decided to take action within the next few days. Family members and friends will probably be aware of your plans and commitments. They’ll be standing by to help you achieve your objectives.
You may be tempted to rush and create ambitious plans. Nevertheless, the best course of action is to have long-term objectives.
It’s essential that you come up with an accurate and detailed plan. Your plan must state the strategies and tactics that’ll guide your recovery process. This will include various treatment processes and lifestyle changes.
You’ll also create several milestones to monitor the progress. In addition, the plan should identify contingencies that you’ll activate if you backslide.
Take Action
This is the stage where you execute your recovery activities. For most people, the first recovery action is to engage in detoxification. Alcohol detoxification prevents withdrawal symptoms by managing the alcohol abstinence process.
Detoxification can take place at a rehabilitation center or your home. If your alcohol dependency rate is high, the detoxification will start with moderation.
Several medical symptoms will manifest themselves when you’re undergoing detoxification. A physician will monitor your condition and propose ways to treat any adverse symptoms.
After you’ve successfully completed detoxification, you can move on to the next step. Here, you’ll work on your behavioral issues as well as social and psychological problems. This ensures that the alcohol addiction problem completely goes away.
There’s a wide range of treatment programs that you can sign up to. They include group counseling, individual therapy, outpatient programs, and long-term residential treatments. Each of these treatment programs varies in length and type of activity.
The action step requires full mental and physical concentration. There are times when you’ll feel like you can’t do it anymore. As a result, you may go back to binge drinking.
If you summon all your energy and follow all processes, you can complete the action step within six months. Nevertheless, the entire process can take up to two years. The important thing is to never give up and always strive to complete your assignments.
Accept Support
You’ll need constant support regardless of your chosen treatment strategy. Trying to do it alone can make the entire process more difficult and likely to fail. On the other hand, if there are people providing guidance, comfort, care, and encouragement, the entire process will become much easier.
The main sources of support will be counselors, colleagues, friends, and relatives. It’s also a good idea to associate yourself with a recovering alcoholic for extra support. Some people also get assistance from their religious community, such as their church.
Ultimately, your family members and closest friends will be your biggest support. They’ll always give you a reason to continue therapy and stay away from alcohol.
The ultimate aim is to build a strong social network. If your current social circle consists of alcoholics, it may be wise to make new friends. For instance, you can move to a new neighborhood or take up a volunteer job.
Another key part of recovery is attending meetings. You’ll be part of many support groups that hold regular meetings. During these meetings, people will share their challenges and how they are coping with the recovery process.
Consequently, you’ll learn more tips on how to overcome backsliding challenges. You’ll also know that other people have undergone similar experiences and succeeded in the end.
Maintenance
Becoming an alcoholic again can happen even after you’ve completed your rehab programs. Therefore, you must focus on consolidating your achievements within the past several months.
The various behaviors that you learned at the treatment center must now become your daily habits. For instance, having a healthy lifestyle and exercising should become a daily activity. At the same time, you must always stay away from tempting events or people.
Your target will be to rebuild your body while completely abstaining from alcohol. Once this becomes a habit, you can resume your normal life.
Termination
Finally, you’ll reach the last stage of recovery, and you’re absolutely sure that you won’t relapse. In theory, you’ve overcome your addiction problems and don’t suffer from any cravings.
Once you achieve long-term sobriety, it’s difficult to manifest the bad habits associated with alcohol. Consequently, you should forget about that phase of your life and start working on other things.
Enhance Your Wellbeing By Knowing the Right Alcohol Recovery Steps
Alcohol addiction can destroy your health and social life. Your professional life will be in shambles, and friends and family will avoid you. It’s absolutely essential that you take part in an alcohol recovery program.
If you follow all the right steps, you can overcome your alcohol addiction before it kills you.
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Hemant Kumar is a project manager at Tridindia with more than nine years of commendable experience in writing about LMS, translation, and IT. His unmatched talent and passion for digital marketing gave him the opportunity to work as a multi-tasking project manager at TridIndia’s sister company, Link Building Corp. Today, he contributes to the world by imparting knowledge on SEO, link building and internet marketing etc., that helps business owners grow their online business.
