Jun 29, 2015 | By Tim Powers

7 Essential Life Lessons You Need To Learn In Recovery

Addiction & Recovery News

I am twelve years into my recovery, and while I am happy with the person I have become I know I have a long way to go and am far from perfect. Like everyone else that lives and breathes on this planet Earth, I have my moments where I seem to free fall into anxiety, doubt, confusion and anger.

Within those moments I can become one emotional and psychological hot mess. I get so focused on the rawness of the present I lose my bearings. I can become adrift in the storm. For a person in recovery, living on your nerves can be a no man’s land if you stay there too long and you can feel yourself sliding the wrong way down the slippery slope towards relapse.

However, just when I feel the walls close in, it seems that a way out presents itself to me and I am able to find some breathing room and distance. When you experience moments like these, you learn to use the tools that your recovery gives you and you learn lessons that allow you to grow.

The Tools of the Trade

For those in recovery, we have a whole arsenal at our disposal when it comes to dealing with triggers, wrestling with temptation and generally dealing with the friction that comes with the daily grind. We hit a 12-step meeting, work with our sponsor, say the Serenity Prayer forwards and backwards, volunteer, get our exercise on and lean on our support people.

Those things are necessary to keep us on the straight and narrow and healthy in our recovery, but there are also some basic life lessons that we need to keep in mind. These life lessons are our foundation and are go-to when all else fails.

The following are 7 essential life lessons you need to keep at the forefront of your recovery playbook.

The 7 Essential Life Lessons

Learn to Make Peace With Your Past

Probably the most important of the 7 essential life lessons is to learn to make peace or your past and let it go. It is hard to move past the pain of your addict past and the damage that you caused, but if you don’t learn to forgive yourself you will become stuck in your sobriety.

Holding resentments is poison for your growth as a person, and it will definitely hinder your growth in your recovery. Learn the true art of forgiveness and give yourself permission to leave your past behind. If you have trouble, get help from an experienced counselor or therapist.

Don’t Worry What Others Think Of You

What people think of you or may say about you when you aren’t around isn’t your business. If they are unable to say it to your face, then it doesn’t merit worry on your end.

What matters is what you think of yourself and what those who truly love and care for you think. You know yourself the best; work towards building the person YOU want to be.

Give It Time

You have heard the old adage time heals all wounds. While we crave instant or almost instant satisfaction and pleasure, in reality it takes time to get what we truly need in life.

In recovery and in life, it takes time for the pain of our past to heal properly and it takes time for us to notice those positive changes. Our scars make us stronger and explain why we are they way we are. Embrace those scars.

You Are Responsible For Your Happiness

We seem to waste a lot of time, energy (and sometimes money) chasing peace, contentment and joy in our world. We may find things that make us happy on the outside, but we may be as unhappy as we were when we were still active in addiction

Why? Because we don’t realize that true happiness comes from within. We have to be happy and at peace with ourselves and accept ourselves warts and all. When we can truly accomplish that, we are on our way to becoming truly happy with life.

Stop Comparing Yourself With Others

Oftentimes we look at what other people have and what they do with their lives and we get drawn in using their lives as a yardstick to ours: stop it. What we see on the surface can be vastly different from what lies beneath.

We don’t know the journeys of others. If we truly saw the struggles and problems of those we compare ourselves to we probably would be happy to stay in our own lane.

Stop Thinking So Damn Much

Let’s put this to rest once and for all; YOU DON’T KNOW ALL THE ANSWERS. There are times where there is no answer. There are times there just isn’t going to be an answer. There are times there will never, never, ever be an answer.

Let it go, accept it and move on.

Smile

The only problems in the world that you own are YOUR PROBLEMS. You can’t carry the burdens of other people’s problems.

You are a human being and therefore you are imperfect (sorry). Even though you may not feel like it, turning that frown upside down actually can brighten other peoples’ days and can set in motion ways to make what was dark brighten.

Learning is a Part of Life and Recovery

Whether you are starting your journey of recovery, already have some good clean and sober time, or are a family member or friend of someone who is struggling with substance abuse, learning is the key to understanding addiction and opens the door to understanding more about this big and beautiful thing called life.

To learn more about addiction and recovery, Sober Nation gives you the tools to learn and grow. Blogs, informative articles, treatment resources, podcasts; the key to understanding is at your fingertips.

Call us toll-free today and open the door to understanding.