Addiction affects every aspect of your life and those around you. It can greatly decrease your quality of life, from your health to your relationships and financial situation. One of the goals of recovery is to improve your life in various aspects as you learn to live it without substance use.
At Spero Recovery, we strive to help you find ways to better yourself and your new sober lifestyle.
What Is Addiction?
Addiction is the compulsive and repetitive action of using alcohol, nicotine, or illicit drugs, even when you know about the negative consequences that come from substance use. It occurs because the brain chemistry changes and adapts to the substance with repeated use.
This adaptation leads to cravings, which makes you want to use it again. It also causes tolerance, which means that the amount of time spent using and the amount of the substance needed for the same effect increases.
Brain changes also cause changes to your ability to concentrate, learn, and make decisions. It can also cause changes to your behavior, which affects other aspects of your life.
How Can Addiction Affect My Life?
Addiction can be a consuming and debilitating mental health condition that affects many aspects of your life. It can negatively affect your relationships, financial situation, physical and mental health, and work or school life.
The effects on your relationships can be due to behavioral changes, including mood swings, isolation, compulsivity, and lashing out during withdrawal. These changes make communication with friends, family, coworkers, and even strangers a potentially hostile event. It makes it hard for people to connect with you and want to be around you.
Your financial situation can become dire because of the amount of money spent on obtaining the substance, especially after developing a tolerance. It can also be affected if you lose your job due to cravings or time off of work due to any of the following:
- Obtaining more of the substance
- Self-medicating to cope with distressing symptoms
- Needing time to recover from hangovers, withdrawals, or other symptoms caused by substance use
Physical and mental health conditions can arise with substance use through the effect the substance has on your organs, behavior, and emotions.
Work and school can be negatively affected due to changes in behavior and emotions.
What Is Recovery?
Recovery is the undertaking of change to better your physical and mental health, reach your full potential, and learn to live a self-fulfilling life. These programs can be inpatient or outpatient and be run in many different ways depending on who is running them.
This variety allows you to find the recovery program that best suits your needs. These needs can include things such as cost, inpatient versus outpatient, location, and treatment methods.
How Can Spero Recovery Help Improve My Quality of Life?
Spero Recovery has residential recovery programs that are used to help you heal from your substance use. Their programs are affordable, accessible, and high-quality. They have separate programs for men and women to ensure everyone is having their unique needs met. These programs use sponsors, a 12-Step program model, alumni, and peers to ensure you have the best care and chance at your recovery journey.
Meditation
The use of meditation and mindfulness is seen to improve physical and mental health. It allows for the chance for you to stop and be present at the moment. This keeps you aware of the situation and gives you the opportunity to fully process what is going on, so you can make a well-thought-out decision. It also helps you to understand other people’s reactions to your previous behavior and actions.
Self-Rediscovery
Spero Recovery provides a safe and judgment-free environment for you to try new things that you feel will benefit you in your new sober lifestyle. This allows you to find new hobbies and activities you enjoy. It also helps you discover who you are without substance use in your life.
Peer Connection
They use alumni, which are people who have gone through the program, to come back and provide peer support and counseling. They help lead the different experiential programs.
Alumni being involved is beneficial for both you and them. It allows you to have access and learn from someone what is attainable through recovery. Seeing the alumni can also help you understand that your goals can be reached and visualize you meeting them. The alumni are given the opportunity to give back to a community they are a part of, improve themselves, and have a better chance of maintaining and reaching long-term recovery.
Experiential Therapy Programs
Experiential therapy is the immersion of yourself in activities and hobbies. This allows you new opportunities to learn, feel, and express yourself. It helps you discover different ways to process situations and behaviors.
Some of these activities can include:
- Hiking
- Cooking classes
- Woodwork
- Sand volleyball
Addiction is a life-altering disease that affects every aspect of your life and the lives of those around you. It can have a negative impact on your relationships, work, and financial situation. Part of the recovery process is coming to terms with these negative consequences and learning to improve your life. Recovery can be a trying and difficult time, but it is one of the most important journeys you will take. This journey can bring to light aspects of your life that you are unhappy with, and it is important to improve them. If you feel like you are struggling to improve your life in recovery, reach out to Spero Recovery at (303) 351-7888 today.
