In addiction recovery, setting goals becomes a tool for envisioning and molding your future. According to Heartwood Recovery, taking a moment to delve into your values and interests aids in pinpointing goals that align with your journey.
Breaking down significant goals into smaller, doable steps is a helpful approach. Establishing recovery goals serves as a focal point during challenging moments, like when triggers arise. It plays a crucial role in averting the risks of relapse or engaging in harmful behaviors.
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4 Goals That You Need to Achieve During Addiction Recovery
Establishing a goal is just the start; the real challenge lies in striving to achieve it.
In the journey of addiction recovery, goals serve as the foundation for long-term success, akin to stepping stones. Think of these goals as measurable and achievable steps that propel you toward your ultimate aim of sobriety and well-being.
1: Reflect on Your Values and Passions
Discovering your purpose in addiction recovery begins by thinking about what truly matters to you. What activities or causes make you happy? Finding these things can help you set goals that feel right for you. It could be returning to an old hobby or supporting a cause you care about. Understanding your values is key to finding your purpose.
2: Set Realistic and Specific Goals
When setting a goal, get specific. Instead of a general “I want to lose weight,” be precise like “I’m aiming to shed 60 pounds by losing five pounds each month through aerobic exercise and following the Mediterranean Diet.”
List your goals and dig into the details by answering questions like ‘Who, what, when, where, and how.’ For example, “I’ll commit to walking on the gym treadmill for an hour, three times a week for the next year” or “I’ll limit my daily calorie intake to no more than 1,500.”
Making your goal detailed and answering these specific questions will make your path to success clearer.
3: Establish Short-Term and Long-Term Objectives
In personal growth, short-term goals are like stepping stones that can help us move forward. They’re usually things you can achieve in a short time.
For example, deciding to go to support group meetings regularly, as well as attending telehealth addiction treatment sessions, is a short-term goal that provides immediate support and flexibility in your recovery process.
Another short-term goal could be finishing a specific course to improve your skills and knowledge, which adds value to your personal and professional life.
Setting short-term goals is awesome because they make you feel good and motivated.
When you reach these little victories, it builds your confidence and makes you think you can keep moving forward. This positive cycle helps you stay motivated as you work toward even bigger and more challenging goals.
In contrast, long-term goals act like a guiding light, shaping the bigger picture of our lives. These goals are bigger-picture and might take several years to reach. They involve broader dreams, like changing careers or becoming an expert in a specific area.
Planning and putting in effort for a long time are crucial for big goals. They give you a clear purpose and help you decide on actions that fit your long-term vision.
For example, if changing your career is a big goal, you might require more qualifications, experience, and connections in your chosen field.
4: Be Realistic
Making realistic goals is crucial. While it might sound great to quit smoking this year, it’s essential to ask if it’s truly achievable.
If you’re new to addiction recovery, it might not be realistic to quit smoking until you’re more settled in your recovery journey. Instead, consider setting a goal to smoke 20% less than you do now. Eventually, you can aim to quit smoking completely.
However, there’s no rush—wait until you’re ready to handle that challenge.
How Does Having These Goals Benefit You?
No matter where you find yourself in your journey to sobriety, incorporating goals into your recovery is consistently beneficial.
Goals add meaning and purpose to your life, offering something to aim for.
Setting and achieving goals provides a framework for a more organized lifestyle, crucial for staying focused on the present and steering clear of relapse.
Simply keep the SMART Model in mind, and you’re on the right track.
1: Improves Your Self-Confidence
Setting recovery goals holds value as it aids individuals grappling with low self-esteem, a common struggle for those starting their recovery journey.
Substance use often leaves a person feeling isolated, guilty, and burdened by shame.
For individuals also contending with a mental health disorder, these feelings of insecurity can be particularly challenging. Most of these goals do act as a means to rebuild low self-esteem, offering a pathway to accomplishment and success.
2: Can Help You to Think Positively
Goals thrive on positive thinking, directing your attention toward what you want rather than what you wish to avoid.
Stating a goal like “I’m going to quit drinking” emphasizes the negative.
On the other hand, a goal like “I’m committed to staying on my recovery path today” keeps your focus positive. It’s completely fine to set goals that take it one day at a time.
3: Offers a Sense of Purpose
Setting recovery goals serves as a source of purpose.
Substance use can disrupt employment, education, and relationships. Especially in the early stages of recovery, adapting to a different lifestyle may seem daunting.
Goal setting offers motivation to carve out a new path in life. Accomplishing even small goals can significantly influence how you perceive and find purpose.
4: Prompts You to Stay Committed
Goals act as a constant reminder that recovery is a continuous journey with no fixed endpoint. Many individuals tend to concentrate solely on the overarching goal of achieving a sober life.
While this is commendable, breaking it down into smaller short-term and long-term goals emphasizes the understanding that there will be both victories and challenges.
Beginning with smaller goals and progressing toward larger ones is a method to navigate setbacks and acknowledge the positive changes already made.
It could be as straightforward as committing to attending a meeting every week.
5: Develops Your Focus for the Future
Recovery goals guide your attention to the future.
Dealing with a substance use disorder might make you feel trapped in the past, risking the repetition of mistakes made during challenging times. A crucial aspect of recovery involves accepting the past without letting it define who you are today.
