Studies show that each day, millions of people struggle with alcohol and drug addiction. People from all walks of life start as binge-drinkers and casual substance users and eventually succumb to addiction. While most people find it hard to achieve sobriety, many others managed to solve their addiction problems.
The road to recovery may not be a flawless ride. But know that it is not something that is impossible to achieve. For some who used to fight their own addiction problems, they managed to overcome addiction with the help of the following strategies.
Alternative Medicine
Alternative medicine is shown to be effective in helping relieve symptoms like pain and discomfort caused by certain conditions. People often turn to alternative medicine to treat muscle and joint pain. But unknown to many is that according to a study, chiropractic care can aid in fighting addiction.
Some people turn to opioids to treat pain. But because they felt both relief and rush of endorphins after taking opioids, this often leads to opioid misuse and abuse. While many factors can put one at greater risk for opioid abuse, some seek reputable chiropractors‘ help to reduce their opioid cravings.
Chiropractic is known to deal with abnormalities or misalignments in the spinal column. A correctly aligned spinal column leads to less pain and a healthier body overall. With your nervous system all cleared up, this makes it easier for your body to process feel-good chemicals, which then reduces your need and cravings to use substances like opioids to feel good.
Chiropractic care also helps in stabilizing mood. Those suffering from addiction often turn to their addiction of choice to deal with anxiety and depression. By reducing your anxiety and depression, you can reduce your cravings.
Humor and Laughter
They say the best medicine is laughter. When we laugh, our stress hormones go down. This, in turn, helps boost our resilience to diseases.
Humor and laughter can be great tools in relieving stress and pressure associated with the addiction recovery process. It is easy to feel pressured to recover fast and avoid relapse. Using humor and laughter will make it easier to make better decisions that can improve their own quality of life.
Humor can make people open up to other people, making confiding to professionals a lot less stressful. Remember that humor can break tensions and make people trust you more. This also helps people keep themselves distracted so that they can continue their road to recovery.
Giving Back to the Community
One can have varying reasons for choosing to give back to the community. Some have a genuine desire to help. Others want to find their purpose and learn that they find great joy in helping others.
Giving back can be a great way to put your focus on something positive and productive. Instead of using your idle time on drugs and alcohol, you can use this to help others and give back to your own community. These ways of channeling negative energy to a positive outlet are healthy and fulfilling.
This can come in many forms, like the following.
- Being a volunteer for a charity or non-profit organization
- Teaching out of school youth to read and write
- Mentoring others based on your knowledge and skills
- Planting more trees around the neighborhood
- Doing random acts of kindness to people within your community
- Feeding the needy
- Donating clothes to those in need
- Supporting local businesses
Healthy Communication with a Solid Support System
One reason people go on relapse is that they lack social support. When no one believes in your ability to stay sober, and you have no one to turn to when you are slowly falling out of sobriety, it makes it easier to succumb to your past addictions. But with a solid support system, you can defeat addiction with their assistance.
For instance, when you are still starting your journey to recovery, a professional can help you discover why you began turning to drugs and alcohol in the first place. They can also help you identify your triggers so that you can avoid them in the first place. With such knowledge in mind, they can finally assist you in creating a recovery plan customized to your own situation.
Having that go-to person you can have by your side will help you physically remove yourself from your triggers. It can be tricky to fully step away from your triggers, especially if almost everything reminds you of your dark past. But with the help of your go-to person, they can help you regain control and remember why you chose to be better in the first place.
Righting any addiction is nowhere near an easy task. There will be hurdles that can stop you on your tracks. But since there is no single formula to recover from addiction, it is worth exploring your options. You can consider this list as your guide if you want more ways to aid your addiction recovery.