So, you’ve woken up and your head is spinning and you start remembering (if your lucky) last night. The feeling where your stomach sinks and you put your head in your pillow doesn’t need to come rushing back, we’ve got 5 steps that could help you avoid that drunken mistake and begin your recovery as quickly as possible.
As Utah alcohol rehab specialists, Liberty Addiction Services see the amazing heights our clients can reach with the right environment coupled with enrolling and completing our alcohol rehab Utah program. Many of our clients go on to live successful and amazing lives – but relapses do occur. And they can come in big and small doses, so being able to handle them is very important.
Step 1: Mistakes happen – don’t let it all go down the drain from one mistake.
Relapses occur, Alcohol is uniquely positioned where it is widely marketed and consumed at a level that is nearly impossible to ignore and is socially acceptable nearly the world over. To truly accept and move past your relapse, you’ll need to understand & forgive yourself.
Now, this won’t be easy, but it’s very important. This may very well be the hardest part of the entire post-rehab recovery process. While it may seem easier to bury your head in the sand and ignore the past mistake (relapse) by putting on a strong positive front and owning your mistakes you will get a lot further and feel better doing it!
You might not be able to do this your first relapse, the key is to know where your mistakes were made and understand them, work through them and avoid where possible. Remember, ignoring and relapsing will only further delay the wonderful life ahead of you.
Step 2: Be open. Be honest. Be humble.
Why bother denying what happened, especially to yourself.
It’s pointless and will only cause you to openly deny issues. You made a mistake, work to understand it and begin to work past it.
If you are in a program and/or have a sponsor, you should contact them and begin to admit to them and yourselves what the problem is, and what happened.
Step 3: Saying Sorry.
As we spoke about above, admitting to yourself is important – but so is saying sorry. If you are going to make it along your recovery journey, you should begin to understand you will make mistakes and being able to say sorry to yourself and loved ones, friends, and family will make this process and the journey easier.
If you got into a situation and you are unable to remember the events that led to your relapse, this step will be a little more tricky. You may need to have an open discussion with friends or other people in attendance with you about what happened, so you know whom to apologize too. Using things like your cell phone and social media are good ways to identify where and what happened.
Apologizing serves two purposes – the first is dealing with the shame that may come from having a big night and acting in an uncontrollable manner and the second is being able to apologize builds character, it makes you more comfortable with being open to building yourself up and ultimately makes moving on easier.
Step 4: Getting back to your recovery.
It might be easy to think all the hard work you’ve put in has been thrown out the window, and we think it’s understandable people think this way – but it’s just simply not true.
At this point it’s important to remember mistakes happen, we are human and if you try and think you will never make another mistake with your recovery process you are going to be disappointed.
Between 40 to 60 percent of people who’ve been treated for addiction or alcoholism relapse within a year, according to a 2014 study in JAMA (source)
So, what happens next – whether you get caught in a negative mindset or relapse you need to pick yourself back up and maintain and focus on your recovery, sometimes easier said than done! So, just because you had a night out on the town you might think it’s all over, but it isn’t.
In fact, there is a medical term for this kind of all or nothing approach -the abstinence violation effect. (source) It’s summed up best for people who have a strong abstinence violation effect and have been found to suffer higher risks of a full-blown relapse.
Going back to what we mentioned earlier about having people to talk to and be open with. A slip up is likely to happen and being able to then talk with these people will help avoid situations like where you are likely to blame yourself and consider all your time so far as a failure. Don’t let these situations ruin your hard work and successes in your recovery. Keeping a positive mindset is important to the long-term success of your alcohol rehab recovery.
Step 5: Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others.
No-one plans to slip up in your recovery process. That much is obvious but sticking your head in the sand and not preparing for a potential mistake will only hinder your recovery process, it’s also not the end of the world when and if it happens.
Making mistakes is often a good way to learn, a lapse in your recovery isn’t our or your idea of success but being prepared will get you a good way further back to sobriety. If you find yourself having lapsed on your journey to being free from alcohol addiction, it’s also a good idea to remember why you began the process of alcohol rehab in the first place.
To learn more about the health risks of alcohol, read our article “Is alcohol a stimulant or depressant?“
