If you are thinking about quitting an addictive substance, you are in the right place. The journey from addiction to recovery can be challenging and unpredictable, but with the right conditions in place, there is no reason you can’t be successful in your attempt and get your life back on track.
Quit Date
Setting a quit date is a good way to acknowledge the addiction and create motivation and structure for your quitting process. A quit date can also help you sustain sobriety because you have an anniversary. For this reason, it’s a good idea to make your quit date a special date.
Do you have a birthday, special event, or meaningful date on the horizon? If so, it could be an excellent opportunity to make a date more meaningful by making it your quitting day as well. Do something special on the quitting day. Choose something cathartic but clean to celebrate.
Environment Change
The environment is very important to the success of your sobriety. An environment includes the place you live in, the area you live in, and the people you associate with. If you are new to addiction recovery, you are likely to have triggering objects and people in the house or the area.
Triggering objects can include alcohol glasses and bottle openers if you are trying to quit alcohol, playing cards and scratch cards when trying to quit gambling, or grinders and papers for drugs. It’s also sensible to disassociate from any people that might encourage you to use it.
Distract Yourself
A craving can be described as a strong emotion. Depending on the substance, these strong emotions can be greater or less. Some cravings can have a physical component as well. These cravings are the hardest to manage. However, there are ways to manage any strong emotion.
The best way to manage a strong emotion is to treat it as a giant wave that is moving through you. For a time, you are completely taken up in the wave, but you know that it will pass eventually. When you understand this, you can distract yourself with a phone call to a friend.
Support Network
Quitting an addictive substance isn’t easy; we need support from the right places. When you have decided to quit a substance and move on with your life, you need to inform your friends and family, especially if they also use the substance. Tell them about your plan for getting clean.
It’s also important to inform any dealers you have that you minted to quit, and would appreciate it if they didn’t contact you from now on. It might also be a good idea to inform your suboxone doctors about your intention to quit so that you get the right support during your recovery.
Past Attempts
Finally, spend some time reflecting on past attempts to quit an addiction. Maybe you have tried in the past and relapsed. What went wrong in your last attempt, and can it be rectified this time? As you come off a substance, you are likely to encounter difficult thoughts and emotions once again, so make sure you have the right mental health and advice services in place for success.
