Taking an interest in your recovery is more than going to a detox, and later to a rehab. It’s more than showing up for fellowship and 12 Step meetings. Although you may need to detox and acquire the benefits of a rehab, there is more in addition to meetings, you can do for your recovery. Certainly these steps in your early recovery are, and will continue to provide invaluable information and support, and the impetus for lasting change.
Taking an interest in your recovery is being curious about yourself. It is like becoming Sherlock Holmes with you at the center of the investigation. In rehab you may have explored your background, and your biological and biographical history with a counselor. This may have given you more than an inkling of what you may have pushed down for years or had entirely forgotten.
You have to be brave to take an interest in your recovery from a mental health perspective. Having a therapist or counselor beyond rehab may well be one of the best things you can do for yourself at this point in time. If you are adverse to going to a therapist, perhaps you can think of the person you choose as your very own Watson—someone by your side through thick and thin, a fellow detective.
You may ask why should I go to therapy? If you do, now ask yourself why not? It could actually be a good sign if you feel uncomfortable about going to therapy. Your unconscious is probably telling you it’s time to dig down to promote growth and your full potential. Why you became addicted to a substance may be very important to learning something that will free you up. It can help ease guilt and shame, too.
By taking an interest in your mental health you might learn that you have a dual diagnosis, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Your poor grades in school, never being able to stop, being overwhelmed by too much stimulation, being frustrated and edgy, suddenly makes sense.
It can be hard to uncover clues about your mental health, unnecessarily losing many years of your life, when a known treatment could have been provided. However, you’re here now, you’re sober. You can apply all you already know about acceptance to your mental health discovery. That’s what’s important. You can’t go back, but you can reach for the stars, and just think, it all started because you had the guts to get and stay sober.
Cypress Lake Recovery offers treatment for addiction in a peaceful, remote, oxygen-rich environment. The program encompasses holistic addiction therapy for the mind, body, and soul. The focus is on physical, mental, and emotional well-being by generating the balance of life-enriching treatment, wellness, and healthy, sober, sustainable relationships. Call us to get started: 409-331-2204
