Sometimes to help ourselves stay on track with our sobriety, it can be extremely helpful to focus on reaching for our goals. Feeling successful and fulfilled can be a powerful deterrent to our drug use, because we feel happier, more confident, and more at peace within ourselves. We’re not giving our energy to beating ourselves up, judging ourselves, or feeling like a failure. Even if we don’t succeed at everything we want to, even if we fall or falter or feel as though we’ve failed at something, the act of trying our best and putting our energy towards working at our goals helps us to stay committed to our sobriety and gives us the motivation to keep going.
Setting goals and intentions for ourselves is something we tend to neglect when we’re using. We don’t have the clarity or the perspective to plan ahead and work to manifest the future we want for ourselves. We’re too consumed with the toxicity of our drug use, the problematic relationships we’re dependent upon, and all of the chaos and turmoil of our issues and difficult circumstances. We aren’t lucid, solid, grounded or centered within ourselves. We’re full of confusion and feel like our feelings, our thoughts and our entire lives are all over the place. Even when we’re in this difficult and confusing place, outlining goals for ourselves, even small goals, can be a powerful source of motivation for us. Setting goals for ourselves can act as a guiding light to help ourselves dig our way out of our depression and addictive cycles.
What are some of the goals you’ve been neglecting throughout the course of your experience with addiction? What dreams do you have for yourself? What passions have been sacrificed due to your illnesses? The beautiful thing about our goals and dreams is that they don’t disappear just because we haven’t been tending to them. They remain inside of us, patiently waiting for us to return to them. Sometimes we feel them bubbling up inside of us, making us feel impatient and frustrated with ourselves that we’ve been neglecting ourselves for so long. We might feel a sense of urgency to get back to our goals and dreams, to get back to the pursuit of our talents and interests, and to get back to ourselves and to the truth of who we are. We’ve stifled ourselves for quite some time, and when we’re ready, part of our recovery is refamiliarizing ourselves with all of the goals we once held for ourselves. Prioritizing pursuing our goals and directing our energy towards them can be a very effective way of helping ourselves stay sober.
If you’re struggling with addiction, you’re not alone. Reach out for support. The community of Riverside Recovery has personal experience with addiction and recovery. We’re here to help you reclaim the life you love. Call (800) 871-5440 today.