Five Steps After Quitting Drugs
Using drugs is common in American society and recovery of the mind and body after defeating drug addiction is difficult.
In order to live a full life, drug use needs to be completely stomped out.
Many say quitting is the hard part, but if you look at all the relapses of drug users, you can see how powerful drugs are on the mind and body.
Some just cannot live without drugs, physically or mentally.
Physical effects are from self-prescribed medicating.
An addict who suffers depression, which happens often, sees the drugs as a means of getting by and escaping life.
Quitting drugs may not be easy for all of these reasons, but staying clean and completely stopping is the next big challenge.
Five steps on defeating the mental and physical effects of drugs after quitting are discussed below.
1.
Don't toy with anything that affects your mind A beer is dangerous for the recovering addict.
Maybe ten years from now you can drink a beer, but more often than not, completely stopping is a key ingredient both physically and mentally.
Once you take a sip of a different drug, your life can go downhill fast.
Some people can handle beer; for drug addicts it's a common relapse.
2.
Lose the drug friends Just as important as not going to the bar or downing some beers at a party, losing the people you hung out with is crucial.
Those friends will lead you back to drugs more often than not.
The problem here is that you must remain social and not hide away, which is described further in step three.
3.
Find positive environments Bars or parties may be out of the question.
Friends may be lost.
The next step for you to remember is that you need to be social.
Join an after-school activity or sports team.
Go out to the movies.
Try a new career.
Empower yourself by being creative.
Join a book club.
Being social is important for the addict; loneliness leads to depression, and depression leads to relapse.
4.
Avoid impulses The impulse after a hard day is to find a means to escape.
Instead of inhaling or injecting a drug, you should stop and consider other activities.
TV is a positive escape.
Going to social events is even better.
You should try not to beat yourself up for killing time with such activities because they allow you to live life.
5.
A day clean is a good day No matter what, when you, the addict, are clean for a day, you must consider that day a major success.
Any day clean, even if you made some mistakes, is still a good day.
The more sober days you chain together, the better the feeling.
When you fight the impulse to relapse, make sure you reward yourself with a treat such as dinner out, ice cream, or a movie.
These rewards put you in positive environments doing social activities, which is a double bonus that will help you be successful in defeating drugs.
In order to live a full life, drug use needs to be completely stomped out.
Many say quitting is the hard part, but if you look at all the relapses of drug users, you can see how powerful drugs are on the mind and body.
Some just cannot live without drugs, physically or mentally.
Physical effects are from self-prescribed medicating.
An addict who suffers depression, which happens often, sees the drugs as a means of getting by and escaping life.
Quitting drugs may not be easy for all of these reasons, but staying clean and completely stopping is the next big challenge.
Five steps on defeating the mental and physical effects of drugs after quitting are discussed below.
1.
Don't toy with anything that affects your mind A beer is dangerous for the recovering addict.
Maybe ten years from now you can drink a beer, but more often than not, completely stopping is a key ingredient both physically and mentally.
Once you take a sip of a different drug, your life can go downhill fast.
Some people can handle beer; for drug addicts it's a common relapse.
2.
Lose the drug friends Just as important as not going to the bar or downing some beers at a party, losing the people you hung out with is crucial.
Those friends will lead you back to drugs more often than not.
The problem here is that you must remain social and not hide away, which is described further in step three.
3.
Find positive environments Bars or parties may be out of the question.
Friends may be lost.
The next step for you to remember is that you need to be social.
Join an after-school activity or sports team.
Go out to the movies.
Try a new career.
Empower yourself by being creative.
Join a book club.
Being social is important for the addict; loneliness leads to depression, and depression leads to relapse.
4.
Avoid impulses The impulse after a hard day is to find a means to escape.
Instead of inhaling or injecting a drug, you should stop and consider other activities.
TV is a positive escape.
Going to social events is even better.
You should try not to beat yourself up for killing time with such activities because they allow you to live life.
5.
A day clean is a good day No matter what, when you, the addict, are clean for a day, you must consider that day a major success.
Any day clean, even if you made some mistakes, is still a good day.
The more sober days you chain together, the better the feeling.
When you fight the impulse to relapse, make sure you reward yourself with a treat such as dinner out, ice cream, or a movie.
These rewards put you in positive environments doing social activities, which is a double bonus that will help you be successful in defeating drugs.
