How to Replace Drug and Alcohol Addiction Healthfully
When many people stop using drugs and alcohol, they find that they have a whole lot of extra time on their hands. All the time that they previously spent getting loaded, making money to get more drugs and alcohol, masterminding and perpetrating fraud, burglary and other crimes to get more of their drug of choice, and recovering after drinking too much or using too many drugs is suddenly open. With a clear mind for the first time, this can be a scary prospect.
Because the first year of recovery after completing a drug or alcohol rehab program -the first few months, especially-are so crucial to healing after drug and alcohol addiction, it is especially important that new vices stay far, far away from your list of acceptable ways to spend your time. Here’s why:
Unhealthy Time Fillers During Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery
Unfortunately, not everyone makes the most healthy choices in terms of how to fill up their new found free time after drug and alcohol rehab. Some just flounder without ideas. Others take up new vices like gambling that turn into new addictions. Even seemingly innocuous activities like watching TV endlessly or going to movies may not be the best choice because it’s very isolating. The idea is not to choose activities that remove you from interacting with others who are healthy, clean and sober.
Gambling, especially, is a gateway back to alcohol and drug addiction. With the free flow of drinks at the casino and the stress of losing, it’s hard to avoid the temptation to relapse.
Healthy Time Fillers During Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery
There are so many things to choose from when it comes to picking activities to fill your time in early drug and alcohol addiction recovery that the sheer number of options alone can be overwhelming. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help narrow those choices down:
- Does it trigger your desire to use in any way? If the activity involves drinking or drugs or people who use or makes you feel insecure or unhappy (which may make you prone to relapse)
- Is it isolating? Certainly it’s okay to spend some time on your own reflectively but if you spend all of your time by yourself and don’t try to build a new community of friends and support, then it’s only a matter of time before you relapse.
- Are you having fun? If you’re not interested in what you’re doing, it’s not going to hold your interest for long. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try new things but if you do try something and decide it’s not for you, don’t feel bad for dropping it. Just take the next day to find something new that doesn’t trigger you, allows you to make positive friendships, and that you enjoy.
What Do You Recommend?
Ultimately, when you don’t make positive, pro-active choices, the empty holes in your schedule can eventually be filled with relapse, which will lead-if not to overdose or other deadly results-back to drug rehab. There’s certainly a lot of fear in those who are new to recovery when they ask: What am I supposed to do with myself now that I’m not using?
What are your suggestions for those new to drug and alcohol addiction recovery? How do you recommend they spend their time?
