Thousands of people who are in the early stages of sobriety slip and have a relapse. So, what can you do to minimize the chances of having a relapse? Here are the top 5 mistakes that can lead to a relapse.
1. Keeping old friends
You should remain friends with your old friends. In some cases, this might be counterintuitive. Hanging out with old friends can lead to you reminiscing over old times and things you used to do together. Before you know it, you might find yourself slipping back into old habits.The best thing to do is to avoid hanging out with old friends that might draw you back into your old lifestyle. Hang out with people who have healthy habits and are not addicts if you intend to stay sober long-term.
2. Being secretive
When you are on the path to recovery, you need to be accountable to someone. This means being open and vulnerable about what you have been up to and any mistakes you have made. Lies will lead to more lies and more profound problems. When talking to your accountability partner, be completely honest and transparent about what is going on in your life.3. Getting support from unreliable places
You should get support from your family and friends while recovering. However, your friends and family might not know how to support your efforts to live soberly in Houston. Therefore, they might not give you the kind of support that you need.The best place to get support is from people on your journey. These people are also in the 12-step recovery program like you.
4. Being bored and lonely
When you are an addict, your life is full of activity and excitement most of the time. But once you recover, you find yourself with all this free time you do not know what to do with. Therefore, you have to find a creative way to use your time.You also have to forge new relationships, given that all your old relationships might no longer be healthy for you. This can leave you feeling lonely, irritable, and restless.
5. Having high expectations
Now that you are recovering, you might expect everything to come together fast. Things might not always work out like that. It might be hard for you to get and keep a job, it might take time to make good relationships, and everything might fall into place slower than you want.The key is to remember to give you time for things to work out. Just keep working at it; eventually, things will start working out for you.
