Finding the motivation to overcome an addiction can feel impossible, even if the idea of recovery has been at the back of your mind for a while. Allowing yourself the time to fully connect with your thoughts and consider your goals moving forward is essential in successfully cultivating motivation and laying out a path towards recovery.
Change can be challenging, even when it is positive. Initiating a new approach to life and sticking with it takes motivation, focus and support. For many of us, with busy lives, packed schedules, and no shortage of things going on, the prospect of making a significant life change can seem nearly impossible.
If you are struggling with an addiction, finding the energy to begin recovery can be especially difficult. Addiction works by rerouting the brain so that it is driven towards a substance, suppressing motivation about anything but that substance. Recognising this as an additional challenge can help you understand your feelings about starting recovery, and why professional support is so important as you seek out recovery options.
To help you get started on your recovery journey, here are a few tips to get motivated about all the benefits that treatment has to offer you.
Tip 1: Put Your Thoughts on Paper
Part of building up motivation is holding on to a thought long enough to let it truly take shape and sink in. With the constant distractions of our jobs, phones, and relationships, as well as the pull that addiction has on the brain, finding the time to explore what we need for ourselves can be tough—even when our life and long-term health is on the line.
Try sitting down somewhere quiet for an hour and writing down what you have gained from your addiction, and what you have lost. Consider what’s holding you back from getting help, and what the benefits of letting go of your addiction are – and jot these down too. Starting this process can plant the seed of recovery in your mind, and build intention around getting well.
Tip 2: Lean on Your Supporters
Talking about your addiction isn’t easy, but this is the time to start getting love and compassion from those you are close to. This support can play a big role in strengthening your motivation to seek treatment and really commit to recovery. Reaching out to loved ones also helps to break the isolation that addiction thrives in, bringing it into the open where it can be addressed.
External support can also help nourish your own confidence, which is critical when you run into feelings of self-doubt or experience a setback. While ultimately your motivation needs to come from within you, having a few people who are in your corner as you fight your addiction is a great advantage.
Tip 3: Seek Inspiration
Another way to spark motivation for treatment is by connecting with people who are already in the process of recovery. Talking with someone who understands where you’re at and can relate to what you are going through can be both affirming and encouraging. Consider joining a support group, or talking with an addiction counsellor. If you are not quite ready to have a conversation with someone, you can also seek out books, podcasts or other resources online to read about other people’s experiences and draw inspiration.
Tip 4: Tune into What is Happening in Your Life
What has got you thinking about rehab these days? Is it something coming up that you are excited about and you want to be at your best for? Significant life events like getting hired for a job you’ve really wanted, moving forward in a romantic relationship, or having a child can make you want to put your best foot forward – positively motivating you towards change.
However, you may also be motivated by negative experiences. Feeling the results of your addiction through things like health problems, legal troubles, or estrangement of loved ones may spur a period of painful but necessary reflection on the role addiction is playing in your life, and a desire to overcome it.
Tip 5: Think About Your Health
While you may not be feeling the effects of addiction today, the statistics regarding long-term impacts of addiction on both physical and mental health are startling. Chronic substance use is linked to physical ailments like cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems, kidney damage, liver disease and overdose. Long-term substance use can also affect memory, learning and concentration, and increase the risk for mental health disorders like depression and anxiety. Making the decision to get treatment will likely make significant and positive improvements to your overall health and quality of life.
Tip 6: Consider the Future
Addiction is a chronic progressive disease, meaning that it will worsen over time if it goes untreated. This relates to health, but also connects to effects on relationships, your job, and your family life. Addiction is related to higher rates of divorce, domestic abuse, and financial troubles. It is possible that you could beat the odds without treatment, but is it worth the risk to simply wait and find out?
Tip 7: See What’s Out There
You may have a very specific idea in your head about what treatment would be like, and if it is not a positive one, that may be dampening your motivation to seek it out. Modern addiction treatment is usually a blend of different modalities that will focus on understanding the root causes of your addiction as well as learning tools to help overcome it. Currently there are a wide variety of both inpatient and outpatient treatment options available, and the likelihood that you’ll be able to find one that can meet your needs is high.
Whether you’re worrying about the cost, the time away from work or family, or the methods of treatment used, an addiction counsellor is a fantastic resource for talking through the different options and suggesting what might be best for you.
Tip 8: Remember That It’s Within Your Reach
Is concern about relapse affecting your motivation to start treatment? You are not alone. Many with addiction worry about being unable to successfully recover, which often prevents people from ever seeking help. However, a recent study found that about 75% of people who have an addiction recover successfully. Those who have professional support have the benefit of a multitude of resources focused specifically on your healing, improving your chances for successful outcomes. Bottom line—don’t give up before you start. You deserve the opportunity for a healthier life, and with the right support you can live free from addiction.
Why Choose The Dawn for Addiction Recovery?
The Dawn Wellness Centre and Rehab Thailand is a unique addiction and mental health treatment inpatient facility located in beautiful Northern Thailand. We offer highly personalised treatment for addiction disorders, uncovering and addressing the root causes of the addiction while also helping you develop skills to cope with life’s challenges and stresses.
The Dawn approaches addiction treatment holistically, blending together a combination of effective psychotherapeutic treatments and proven wellness practices such as yoga, fitness training, and mindfulness meditation to ensure a full, balanced recovery.
Long-Term Rehab Abroad at The Dawn
The Dawn offers long-term rehab that focuses on in-depth mental health treatment and further guidance through the continuum of care, which includes detox, addiction and mental health treatment, a step-down programme, and an aftercare plan. This means that instead of spending four weeks in treatment and then heading home, the rehab model is generally eight weeks, and is flexible, all-inclusive and can be extended based on the unique needs of the client.
If you’d like to learn more about what your recovery options are, call The Dawn today. We can help you successfully overcome your addiction, and begin a better, healthier life.