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The idea of someone preparing for change in recovery can be quite conflicting. Whether someone is in recovery for an addiction, mental health illness, or co-occurring mental health disorder, the idea of change can be daunting. While someone may see change as essential for their own health, there may still be barriers that can prevent someone from seeking the help they need in order to cope with the stresses that plague them. Whether it be a stigma or societal expectations, confronting one’s own shame or guilt in a more public fashion, or even the mental turmoil that comes with not knowing what the future may look like, these barriers can make the idea of change a difficult prospect. However, internalizing and accepting the need for change is the first major step in recovery, and it is important to break down any of the barriers that someone may face in order to effectively pursue their own journey to sobriety or healing.
Change Doesn't Indicate Failure
Accepting that there needs to be changes in someone’s life doesn’t inherently mean that someone was failing in their lives before. Rather, accepting the need to change involves addressing someone’s present, the addictions, mental health issues, or stressors therein, and acknowledging that they are creating an unhealthy path into the future. These changes can happen at any stage of life, and it is important to constantly evaluate what one’s coping mechanisms are, whether it be in dealing with the stress of school work, opening one’s own business, or to children growing up and moving out. Stressors can be a constant, the various techniques that someone uses to cope with these stresses can change at any stage in life. Unhealthy coping mechanisms, mental health disorders, and addiction can develop at any point, regardless of whether someone is in high school, seen their own children off to college, or have retired from the workforce altogether. Change doesn’t mean that someone’s past is a failure, it is accepting that each person is expressing a need to take hold of their future.
However, not taking action can cause a number of concerns on its own. If someone acknowledges the need for change without acting on it, they may be at risk for developing other alternative coping mechanisms. This could lead to a higher risk of using drugs or alcohol, or they may begin to suffer from their own depression, anxiety, or other mental health disorders as they try to self-medicate or implement their own coping strategies. Accepting the need to change may involve addressing one’s inherent vulnerabilities, but also opens the gates for someone to take control of their own recovery path.
Change Has Many Forms
A major barrier also involves what “change” may mean to someone. For some suffering from addiction or mental illness, change can mean an overhaul of their daily practices and social circles as they reform their identity and regain a sense of control over their future. However, recovery from addiction or mental health disorders can take many forms. Change can involve adjusting one’s own environment and atmosphere, one’s own personal practices and mindset, or exploring one’s own coping mechanisms and expression of their identity. Making profound, fundamental changes in one’s life can mean simply adjusting one of these elements, or all of them, depending on the individual, the stresses they suffer from, and their own goals in recovery.
Working with professionals and supportive recovery communities can help each individual not just internalize various methods in order to help them achieve the changes someone may want to make in their own lives, but can also provide foundation and support for the transitionary period itself. This support may be essential for someone while they are making key changes in their home life or world view, and there will be vulnerabilities as someone explores the unknown and lets go of their past practices or methods of thinking.
Taking Control of Change
Control and change are often two words that are at odds with each other. However, accepting and acting on one’s need for change in their lives, whether it be in regards to drugs, alcohol, or mental health issues, can create a situation where someone has already expressed agency over their own future. Acknowledging the need for change in one’s environment means being able to objectively look at one’s own living space and their feelings of comfort and safety therein. Change means addressing one’s own needs for recovery or mental health before worrying about stigmas, and ultimately addressing one’s own future in their own way. Reaching out for change in one’s life is the first step not just towards healing, but towards self-actualization at any age, career path, or personal level.
Accepting that there needs to be a change in your life is a huge step that comes with an array of hurdles on its own, and taking control of that change can require a lot of practice. START UP RECOVERY, and its luxurious living space, can help each resident understand and internalize their own best practices and own goals for change in their lives. Each person has options to take recovery into their own hands and work alongside professionals to establish their own path and future. Sponsors and mentorship are just the beginning of the atmosphere of community that is present all across START UP RECOVERY homes, and each person is encouraged to bring their own personality into a community environment in order to strengthen each and every person there. For more information on how START UP RECOVERY can help you take change into your own hands, or to speak to a trained staff member about your own unique issues or concerns, call us today at (310) 773-3809.