Excellent counseling and treatment programs save lives. The sad part is that many people who succeed in attaining sobriety are unaware of how hard they have to continue to work to stay sober and healthy. Like anything in life you have to work for it, and it’s not a matter of laziness or weakness, it’s that many people lose the momentum they gained through treatment and end up returning to their former lifestyle of addiction and torment. In fact, returning to drugs and alcohol may very well be the last thing they want in their new and prosperous lives, but it happens and that is why motivation plays such an enormous role in recovery and sobriety. In some other cases returning to their former lives as addicts does seem attractive. Perhaps it’s because they miss friendships that centered around their addiction, or more obviously they miss the escape and release that their drug of choice offered them. People start taking drugs for a reason, and that can be any number of things, but primarily it’s caused by the way it makes someone feel. That’s why motivation is so important, it substitutes that euphoria the drugs offered with something more positive and far less destructive. Motivation can, if nurtured, replace years of addiction with something better; a long, healthy and prosperous life.
Our memories can sap our motivation very quickly. During recovery someone can block out the so called “good times” they remember about their history with drugs, but when treatment is complete many people begin to “romance” the notion of returning to drugs or alcohol. They remember good parties, meeting someone exciting while high or drunk, and of course the positive aspects that surrounded their addiction. This is why memories can hurt someone trying to stay motivated because for some reason many people begin to only remember the good parts of drugs and alcohol and forget the bad, which of course far outweighs the good. Adjusting one’s memory to fixate on the bad side of addiction will increase their motivation to never return to that life.
Recovery is called a process for a reason. Many people lose their motivation just as their lives begin to turn around. You can’t expect the world during recovery. The notion that the minute you decide to abandon drugs and alcohol your life will somehow significantly improve is expecting too much. Recovery is a journey and the only way to stay motivated is too set realistic expectations and do your best to meet them every day until you realize that you’ve accomplished your goal. Don’t lose hope, because hope fuels your motivation!
There are many reasons why people lose their motivation during their recovery period. Here are some of the big ones that any addict should keep in mind while on the path to sobriety:
- When people give up the substance abuse their life can improve dramatically. They can forget the pain of addiction, which was the driver that motivated them to stop in the first place.
- There are many individuals who manage to get sober but still feel ambivalent about recovery. They like what sobriety has to offer, but also still believe that they can find happiness using alcohol and drugs.
- If people fail to develop sufficient coping mechanisms for life in recovery they can become overwhelmed by the challenges they face. Their determination to stay sober falters as a result.
- When things are going well people can become overly confident. They feel like their problems are over so no further work is required.
- Some individuals are extremely eager when they first become sober, but then later run out of steam. They may result from disillusionment when their high expectations are not met right away.
- Those individuals who give up their addiction to please other people will usually lose motivation in recovery. Once that they decide that it is safe for them to return to alcohol or drugs their reason to stay sober disappears.
- Anger and resentment can drain people of their motivation to stay on the path of sobriety. If people are full of these negative emotions they struggle to think clearly and make rational choices.
- Some people just lose their way in recovery. They make bad choices and the effects of this outweigh their motivation to stay sober.
- If the individual chooses a recovery program that does not suit their needs then this too could drain their motivation to stay sober.
