After leaving rehab, the ongoing recovery process can seem focused on one single-minded task: avoiding relapse. The recovering addict can feel like they’ve entered a minefield and their mission is to avoid any number of traps that could entice them back into substance abuse and end their precious, newfound sobriety. But while maintaining sobriety in the face of ongoing addiction triggers can be a challenge, recovery is not meant to be an endurance race with no goal other than endless struggle.
To truly maintain a healthy, lasting recovery, the addict must find something beyond just survival. They must go beyond sobriety to find purpose and meaning in recovery.
Recovery is not a mere stage of your life after rehab. It is your life now. For addicts, addiction is simply held at bay, not cured. The properly aware addict knows that they could fall back into substance abuse under the wrong circumstances and remains on guard against triggers and cravings that could make it all too easy to relapse back into full-blown active addiction once more.
But this can make the recovering addict feel like a person under siege, constantly alert for danger with no time to relax, lest addiction strike when your guard is down. It’s a bleak way to live on a permanent basis and can turn recovery into an endless slog rather than a new stage of healthy living.
Awareness and preparation are important for recovery, it’s true. Taking steps to avoid relapse is incredibly important. But it cannot be your sole focus in life. You don’t live to maintain sobriety. You maintain your sobriety in order to actually live.
This is why it’s important to look beyond your addiction to find something bigger than yourself, something to live for beyond mere survival. You need to find purpose and meaning in your recovery and, therefore, your life.
This can sound like a tall order. There are people out there who have never touched a drop of alcohol or a gram of hard drugs who have no meaning in their lives beyond just keeping up appearances, getting through one day so they can reach the next, which will be just like the one before.
It can seem presumptuous to ask someone to define their purpose, like some philosophical puzzle that even seemingly balanced adults often struggle to solve. But you’re not being asked to find the meaning of life. Just something to keep you going beyond the daily grind of everyday living.
For people of faith, this can take the form of their religion. Christians find meaning in their relationship with Jesus Christ, for instance. Finding your purpose and meaning in serving the Lord can definitely give you something to work for beyond mere survival.
At Good Landing Recovery, their faith-based approach to rehab and addiction treatment encourages finding meaning in faith and service, giving the patient something to work toward beyond just their own personal health, but a larger cause that binds them to others and gives them a purpose in life.