Life is full of challenges and things will not always go your way, the only thing you can do is make the best of the situation you are in. Luckily you have already started to take control of your life and your happiness by reaching out for help with your addiction.
Now that you have started to work on yourself it is vital that you keep improving things in life that you have control over. Making the best out of your current situation will help you maintain a sober life and also help you improve your situation in every other way.
People are always quick to talk about dropping everything and pursuing your dreams, however this is not a realistic situation for most people. Instead of dreaming about dropping everything and making a drastic life change you can start making small changes today that will lead to a happier and healthier future.
While this all sounds well and good, making even small changes in your life can be both intimidating and difficult. Despite this fact there are still some overarching ideas that will help you start making changes in your life today.
Eliminate Energy Drains
Now that you have taken control of your addiction it is important to weed out your social groups to ensure that you are as happy as possible. As difficult as it is to look critically at people you have known for years it is imperative that you do so.
In the end you have to look out for yourself first, some of your friends may be too closely tied to your struggles with substance abuse and others may just not have your best interests in mind.
Either way you must make some tough choices to ensure that you are putting your own mental health at the forefront of your decision making. This will be a short term stress but in the long run you will be better off for it.
Stay in Touch With Your Feelings
Often people who struggle with addiction use their vice to ignore negative emotions they are experiencing, now that you are fighting back against addiction it is important that you start sitting down and confronting your emotions. Feelings of stress and anxiety are difficult to deal with, but they only get worse when ignored.
Take the time to learn how you best deal with negative feelings. Some people use meditation or exercise while other people take time to themselves away from the rest of the world to process and move past negative feelings. In the end it doesn’t really matter how you handle negative emotions, it is just important that you take the time to understand them and then move on from them.
Set Goals
Making sure to set both short and long term goals will allow you to continually move forward in your life, helping you blossom into a better you.
Short term goals can seem simple and a little arbitrary on the surface but setting short term goals like meeting a new person, staying on budget, or exercising once a week will teach your brain how satisfying it is to achieve what you set out to achieve. You can then start using these short term goals to work towards long term goals.
Long term goals can be staying sober, buying a house, moving to a new town, getting a dream job, anything that takes an extended period of time to achieve.
The key to long term goals is making sure you stay on track and do not get discouraged. Goals like these are supposed to take years or even decades to achieve, so small setbacks should not discourage you. Instead of getting discouraged you need to stay focused on your short term goals knowing that you are headed in the right direction.
Both short and long term goals will provide you with a positive direction in life and give you meaningful feedback on your journey to a better you.
Put Yourself First
When it really comes down to it only you can get yourself to blossom into a new and better version of yourself, so you have to prioritize yourself. Experiment in life and see what makes you the happiest, find a daily schedule that helps you thrive. Only when you are happy and appropriately challenged will you be able to start really improving yourself.
The key to putting yourself first is prioritizing yourself without damaging relationships with the people around you. This is achieved by honesty, communication, and authenticity. The people around you will understand when you can’t make that dinner or are unavailable for a weekend get together as long as you tell them clearly.
Prioritizing your own mental health and using your time wisely will help you blossom and will actually strengthen your relationships as long as you approach it with honesty and candidness.
Strive to Be a Better Person
Being a better person can take many different shapes. You can strive to be a better person to yourself, to your family, or to people in your community. The key to this is to start working towards all three. Being a better person to your family is unsustainable if you are not a better person to yourself, you really have to dive in as a complete life mindset.
Using short and long term goals and prioritizing how you treat others will help you be a better person to those around you, especially if you have already worked through putting yourself first.
Stop Comparing Yourself
In a world full of social media it is very difficult to not constantly compare yourself with others. On a daily basis you are bombarded by people you have met bragging about their achievements on the internet or in person. It is important to remember that you really only see other people at their happiest and strongest, but you see all the ups and downs in your own life.
To properly blossom into a new and better you it is vital that you remember that everyone has a different path and no one achieves things at the same points in life. You can be happy for your friends who are doing well but you have to remember that everyone presents a slightly altered version of themselves to those around them. Stay focused on your own goals and do not let other people doing well discourage you because you do not know their whole story.
