Addiction recovery is rewarding, fulfilling and absolutely life-changing. However, this is not to say that it is always a walk in the park. Recovery is also exceedingly challenging – fortunately, it is challenging in the best sense of the word. Every single recovery-related challenge that you walk through will make you stronger and more capable in the long run, and every time you face a difficult experience and make it through to the other side, you will learn an invaluable lesson about yourself and about the world around you. Really, there are no “bad challenges” when it comes to recovery. Even the struggles you might face when it comes to staying sober long-term will ultimately shape you into a stronger version of yourself.
When it comes to staying sober and effectively dealing with personal relapse triggers, everyone finds what works best for them over time. For some people, calling a sober friend and talking through issues might be the most effective. For others, hitting an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and openly sharing might work wonders. In most cases, utilizing a combination of relapse prevention techniques is the most beneficial. While you are in inpatient addiction treatment you will undergo Relapse Prevention Training, which is geared towards helping clients identify their own personal relapse triggers and effectively work through these triggers by employing a range of healthy coping mechanisms. While relapse triggers do vary on a person-to-person basis, here are some examples of more common triggers:
- Experiencing a significant loss, like the death of a loved one or a beloved pet, the end of a romantic relationship or the loss of a long-time job or career.
- Being around old friends that you used to drink or do drugs with.
- Experiencing extremely high stress levels for any number of reasons.
- Experiencing negative emotions, such as loneliness, sadness, frustration or guilt.
- Being socially isolated for any number of reasons (this relapse trigger can be difficult to avoid in the current day and age, what with the global pandemic and increased need for social distancing).
- Falling into a pattern of glamorizing past drug or alcohol use.
- Spending time in places where chemical substances are readily available and commonly used, like bars or nightclubs.
Relapse Prevention Training helps you identify your own personal triggers and effectively work through them. If you find yourself in a bind, however, and you need some immediate relief from your own self-destructive thought patterns, it can be extremely beneficial to carry around a small collection of recovery-related quotes. You can make a list of these quotes on your cell phone, or even carry around a small notebook full of motivational quotes to refer to and add to. It might seem silly – but quotes often help us remember that we are not alone in our struggles while pulling us back to reality and a place of logical thinking.
15 Recovery Quotes for Continued Sobriety
We have compiled a list of 15 motivational recovery-related quotes to help keep you on the right track – again, please feel free to compile your own list or add to ours!
- “You don’t get over addiction by stopping using. You recover by creating a new life where it’s easier to not use. If you don’t create a new life, then all the factors that brought you to your addiction will catch up with you again.” – Anonymous
- “I wanted a drink. There were a hundred reasons why a man will want a drink, but I wanted one now for the most elementary reason of all. I didn’t want to feel what I was feeling, and a voice within was telling me that I needed a drink, that I couldn’t bear it without it. But that voice is a liar. You can always bear the pain. It’ll hurt, it’ll burn like acid in an open wound, but you can stand it. And, as long as you can make yourself go on choosing the pain over the relief, you can keep going.” ― Lawrence Block, Out on the Cutting Edge
- “I had to find something, ANYTHING to distract myself from myself. But you can’t run from yourself forever. No matter where you go, you are always there. No matter what you do to avoid being with yourself, you’ll always come back around to having to face you again.” ― Rachel D. Greenwell, How To Wear A Crown: A Practical Guide To Knowing Your Worth
- “Sometimes we say, ‘I didn’t want to do it, but it’s stronger than me, it pushed me.’ So that is a seed, a habit energy, that may have come from many generations in the past. We can smile at our shortcomings, at our habit energy. With awareness, we have a choice; we can act another way. We can end the cycle of suffering right now.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, Reconciliation: Healing the Inner Child
- “Spiritual work and psychological work are both necessary to reclaim our true nature. Without psychological strength, spiritual practice can easily become another addictive distraction from reality. Conversely, shorn of a spiritual perspective we are prone to stay stuck in the limited realm of the grasping ego, even if it’s a healthier and more balanced ego.” ― Gabor Maté, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
- “Addiction is like a curse and until it is broken, its victim will perpetually remain in the shackles of bondage.” ― Oche Otorkpa
- “If you can quit for a day, you can quit for a lifetime.” ― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Last Night I Sang to the Monster
- “I chose to share both the good and the bad parts of my story, and of my imagination, so that it might help even one person realize that there is hope. You are not alone. And it does get better. I promise you it’s worth it.” ― Kimberly Nalen, Beautiful Junkie: Poems about Addiction and Recovery
- “When people tell me the heroin problem is so big, so tragic, so complicated, I say so what. So what. We can learn our way through this.” ― Paul Komarek, SHARP Stop Heroin and Rescue People: A Workbook for Communities
- “To stay true to ourselves and remain kind to others is an art. It does require daily vigilance and, at the same time, it’s important to remember that art can often get messy.” ― Christopher Dines, The Kindness Habit: Transforming our Relationship to Addictive Behaviours
- “Not being a man of means, I knew that if I did not stay sober enough to earn money, I would run out of liquor.” ― Alcoholics Anonymous
- “No one is entitled to anything. Everything we get in this life we have worked for. And sometimes we take on baggage we never even signed up for, but that doesn’t mean you deserve it. I wake up everyday wishing I could change things, but I can’t change the past. All I can do is change the future.” ― E.M. Youman, The Prince’s Plan
- “Freedom doesn’t come through banning; freedom lies in mastering self-control.” ― Beem Weeks
- “In truth, most addicts find relief the moment they stop hiding. The moment they publicly admit they have a problem. For most high-functioning addicts, the moment they realize there’s a God and it’s not them, relief floods into their tortured hearts.” ― Ana B. Good, The Big Sugarbush
- “Who are we without our addictions; without our media-induced hungers? So often the voices we hear echoing in our mind are not our own but that of our influencers. Isolation, while arguably going against human nature, is essential for mental and emotional health. Solitude is a detoxification of all that distorts our personality and misguides our path in life. It allows us to filter out the foreign opinions and hear our own voice—reach our authentic character—and practice fidelity to self.” ― L.M. Browning, Seasons of Contemplation: A Book of Midnight Meditations
Intrepid Detox Residential
Of course, staying sober is not possible without first getting sober. If you have been suffering at the hands of a substance abuse disorder of any type or severity, Intrepid Detox Residential is available to help. Simply give us a call today to learn more about our comprehensive, multi-phased recovery program and to begin your own personal journey of healing.