The Importance of Gratitude in Recovery
If you are in recovery, negative thoughts may try to plague your life. These types of thoughts can make you feel as if your life isn’t going anywhere, and can ultimately hurt your recovery process. This is why being thankful is important. Being thankful is about focusing on the good things in your life; the things that make you happy and make your life feel full. A positive attitude has been shown to help those in recovery not only recover faster, but also reduce the chances of relapse. Why? Those who are thankful and positive often:
- Have friends that pull equal weight in the relationship
- Have better outlook on the future,
- Tend to be in less interpersonal conflict
- Have Less Stress
- Are less self-absorbed
The problem may not be being thankful, but it might be finding out what to be thankful and grateful for. If you’re struggling to find something to be grateful for while in the process of recovery here are just a few things that you can find to be thankful for.
Spend Quality Time with Loved Ones
Your loved ones are some of the most important people in your life. They love you, they support you, and they want you to get through recovery and be successful. If you are an addict, having family members with you on your journey can help give you solid ground to fall on, a glimmer of hope to hold on to, and the reminder to never give up and fall back. And, with family, even if you take a few steps backwards, they will always be there to help push you forward.
Ability to Work
Working and making money makes anyone feel like a superstar. Holding down a job makes you a productive and contributing member of society. By keeping your mind and your hands busy, not only do you take your thoughts away from substance use, but it also gives you a reason to get up in the morning and something to remind you why you are fighting to get clean. A job can represent life after recovery and to many addicts that can be the light at the end of the tunnel that helps keep them on the road to recovery.
Your Health and Well Being
Alcohol and illegal substances when abused can absolutely wreck your body and cause a multitude of health issues. Substance abuse can turn anyone into a shell of who they once were, not only showing physical signs but emotional and mental signs as well. By going into recovery, you are reclaiming your physical, mental, and emotional health and saying you want to be in control. Poor health equals poor life quality, and if you are thankful for the chance to regain all aspects of good health you are that much more likely to be successful in your recovery program.
Helping Others
When on substances of any kind it changes you as a person. You may can become impatient, mean, or even completely self-absorbed. This means that you will miss out on some of the simple things in life, such as helping prepare a family dinner, doing homework with your kids, or participating in volunteer activities. These activities can help fill up those empty spots in your life that would otherwise have been filled with getting high or drunk; instead you can relish in the fact that you are helping someone else complete a task they may not have been able to do without you. And, once you are completely recovered, reminding yourself about your ability to help and contribute to society can help keep you on the straight and narrow.
Having Fun
Addiction takes up all your free time, it sucks away at your life, and becomes an all-consuming activity. It turns star athletes into couch potatoes, fun loving young adults into zombies, and can take almost anyone away from the things they love. When you aren’t sober, you don’t have a chance to enjoy the activities in life that you once found fun. During recovery try and find time to do these things again. Pick up your favorite book, get back to scrapbooking, or take up a sport you haven’t played in a long time. These activities will help fill that void that substances took up for the longest time, it can get you out of your own head, and can help give you a more positive outlook. Be thankful for fun and the fact that in recovery you can enjoy things once again, instead of locking yourself away in the dark looking for your next high.
Attitude of Gratitude: The Pathways Difference
One of the most important things you can do during your time in recovery is to never give up and to continuously look on the bright side. By taking in all the wonderful things in your life you can reject the negative and put yourself on a bright, and beautiful path for the rest of your life.
At Pathways we know how hard it can be to be thankful for the things in your life, and to stay positive during the dark times that recovery may sometimes bring. This is why at Pathways we find a REAL solution to help you recover quickly and easily. We work with your family too! Recovery doesn’t just hurt you and your body, it can also be taxing for your immediate family, and we understand that. We work with the entire family unit to make it healthy and help it function properly again. We use techniques that will help you in the real world to not only overcome your addiction, but keep it from invading your life again.
Pathways knows that the road to recovery is seldom an easy one, but we also know that the benefits of getting clean and sober greatly outweigh staying dependent on substances. Getting clean can make you a better person with a great life. Recovery is waiting for you so never give up.
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