We love stories as a society. We watch movies, binge TV shows, obsess over characters and imaginary worlds. We know as much about soap opera villains and romance novel heroines as we do about members of our own family… sometimes more. So we clearly invest a lot of energy into the act of storytelling and what it can do in our lives. This is just as true in addiction recovery as anything else.
Much can be done in an addict’s life when they realize the power of storytelling in inspiring hope and encouraging recovery.
As part of rehab and the ongoing recovery process, the patient is often encouraged to share their own story. This can help the patient learn from others as they hear those stories, as well as learn from their own mistakes as they repeat their own story.
Telling their own story is not something the addict needs to stop doing once they’ve entered the recovery process, however. By continuing to tell their story, the recovering addict can continue to reinforce the lessons of their rehab treatment and remind themselves of what they’re fighting to avoid by remaining sober and keeping relapse at bay.
Storytelling does quite a few things for the recovering addict. It helps them process their addiction and rehab experience, putting into stark relief the factors that led to their substance abuse and what it took to shake its influence. By doing this, they can pinpoint the errors they made and poor decisions taken and work to avoid repeating such mistakes. They can also reprocess the positive lessons they learned during rehab and reinforce them in their ongoing recovery process.
Furthermore, telling their story to others who may be in recovery themselves or possibly still struggling with substance abuse and need to seek help can be very useful. By telling the story of their journey to recovery, the patient emphasizes that they are IN recovery and that there is hope to be found at the end of the journey to shed addiction. This can encourage others in early recovery and infuse hope in those who are seeking a way out of their substance abuse problem.
Repeating the story of their own recovery is also helpful for the storyteller because it helps reinforce that they have reached recovery and are no longer in the grip of substance abuse. It allows them to focus on their success in rehab and their ongoing achievement in avoiding relapse and maintaining their recovery process.
At Good Landing Recovery, storytelling is promoted as an important tool for infusing hope in the patient during rehab and the early recovery process. Patients learn to share their story is to share their journey from shame to hope as they leave addiction behind for recovery.
Stories have power and that is especially true for the recovering addict. The power of storytelling in inspiring hope and encouraging hope cannot be understated.
Call Good Landing today and learn what they can do for you, so you too can share your story to recovery.