What Should Your Goals for Cocaine Recovery in Pennsylvania Be?
Goals are a very important thing to have in life. They help you have a plan and a general outline for what you want your life to be like. But while having goals is important in everyday life, it’s that much more crucial when going through recovery. Your goals for cocaine recovery will help you move with more success and achieve long-term sobriety. We here at Little Creek Recovery are always happy to help you find your way back to health and happiness. Therefore, we’ll be glad to provide you with the necessary treatment, as well as help you create some goals for your recovery journey from cocaine.
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What should you pay attention to when setting your goals for cocaine recovery?
Believe it or not, there’s a right and wrong way of setting goals during your treatment. If you are staying inside a cocaine rehab Pennsylvania facility, you should know that there should be certain rules for how you set your goals. For starters, they should be precise instead of vague. So resist the urge to write get better as your goal and substitute it with something from our list that’s coming shortly. Secondly, your goals should be attainable, meaning that you should be very realistic. Is it realistic to go through detox in a matter of days? You probably already know the answer.
Finally, make sure you create a timely list of goals. Instead of putting it off until after you finish with a men’s residential program in Pennsylvania, we suggest you tackle the issue head-on. While in recovery, take your time to create a draft of your goals that will be important during the upcoming months. Once you have a visual reminding you of everything that needs to be done, you will be less likely to fall off track.
Five main goals for cocaine recovery in Pennsylvania
We believe that every person knows themselves the best and should, therefore, set their own goals. However, we have plenty of experience in the matter, which is why we know that there are five essential goals every person should have when attending rehab. That said, we advise you to use our list and combine it with your goals and desires – that’s the best way to achieve long-term success after leaving our drug or alcohol rehab Pennsylvania facility.
Goal #1 – Attend your meetings
We will go as far as to say that this should be the most important goal in the coming days. While you might be able to get away with less work in some other areas, you definitely cannot get away with missed meetings. When we say meetings, we do refer to therapy sessions – both individual and group. Likewise, based on your situation, you could also be attending trauma and holistic therapy, both of which should not be missed.
Now, you might have never missed a single therapy session while staying in a cocaine or heroin rehab Pennsylvania center. But you should know that those days were the easy part, as frequently attending meetings once you are back in the real world is the truly tricky part. There’s no doubt that life’s going to come with many obstacles, and they could seem more important than your therapy sessions. It’s during those moments that you should remember that nothing should take precedence over your sobriety and mental health.
Keep in mind that you are entirely free to alter your schedule. Attending three therapy sessions per week might have been possible while you were staying in a rehab facility. But now that you are out in the real world where duties and chores await, keeping up with the same intensity might be difficult. That’s why you need to take a long look at your schedule and figure out how much time you can set aside for therapy. While there’s no magic number, it should be at least once every ten days.
Goal #2 – Lead a healthy lifestyle
Most recovering addicts will dedicate all of their time to their mental health. Truth be told, this is only logical and smart, as your mental health is closely connected to addiction. Numerous studies show that those struggling with trauma and mental health disorders are the most likely to abuse drugs and end up in a marijuana rehab Pennsylvania center. That being said, it’s important to understand that having a healthy mind is very difficult if you aren’t having a healthy body. The two must come together to ensure you are facing the optimal chance for recovery.
What we often see is that many people say that they have every intention to focus on a healthy lifestyle, but they fail to do so. Sometimes, being health-oriented isn’t as simple as you imagine it. After all, this kind of lifestyle demands a lot of discipline, which is not something everyone can do. Generally, people are advised to:
- Get eight hours of sleep per night.
- Drink plenty of water and stay hydrated.
- Avoid processed meats and sugar.
- Stay away from alcohol.
- Quit smoking.
- Eat a nutritious diet.
- Get enough exercise.
You are not the only one if this looks like an incredibly long list of rules to abide by. However, once you start implementing them one by one, you will see the positive impact they will have on your life. After that, it will be a matter of time before they become a habit. And no, you don’t have to live like this every single day. Some exceptions are allowed and welcome.
Goal #3 – Get enough quiet time
Let’s face it – having some time for yourself is essential no matter who you are. Whether you are a student, a working mom, or a successful businessman, everyone needs some alone time with their own thoughts. However, having enough quiet time is essential if you are a recovering addict. It’s going to help you tune out the rest of the world and focus on your inner thoughts. Only by reflecting on what you are feeling (and why) can you manage to stay away from an intensive outpatient program in PA that would have you making a step back.
Now, while you should schedule some quiet time, you are free to choose how you want to spend it. Are there any activities you particularly enjoy? Is meditation your go-to method of relaxation? Do you love journaling and spending time putting your thoughts and feelings in writing? Or do you like to relax with a good book and a hot beverage? Then you know what to do – schedule enough time for your quiet time.
We know you might have a busy family life and/or work-related chores. But that’s no reason for you not to set aside twenty minutes per day where you can sit back and process your feelings. Think of it this way – you are actually saving your time, as you won’t have to face another lengthy stay in a rehab facility. Plus, you get to do what you love so, in our opinion, you are facing a win-win situation.
Goal #4 – Nurture your personal relationships
Now, this is a very important goal for cocaine recovery as it’s going to keep you sane. We all know that addiction is a friend of isolation. When people start abusing drugs or alcohol, they usually alienate themselves from everyone. There are many reasons for this type of behavior, and they range from shame to the inability to listen to other people’s thoughts and opinions. But once you come out of outpatient rehab in Pennsylvania, those days of loneliness and isolation should be left behind you.
Finding your way back to healthy personal relationships and rich social life can be difficult – but it’s certainly not impossible. In fact, many recovering addicts are surprised to see how many people are willing to forgive and forget. Usually, you will start making amends through the 12-step program, where one of the steps is all about forgiveness. But it’s very important to keep going down the right path once you leave a rehab facility. And the only way to maintain good relationships with your partner, friends, and family members is through honesty and time.
You need to spend enough time engaging in shared activities. It’s only once you start spending some quality time that your loved ones can begin to heal with you. We would like to warn you that you could notice some distance from your friends in the beginning. This is especially true if your addiction has led you to do some things that are out of character for you. However, as soon as they see that you have no intention of going back to your old ways, it’s very likely that your relationship with them will go back to what it used to be.
Goal #5 – Work on your lifelong dream
Everyone has that one thing they have wanted to do ever since they were little kids. For some people, that’s becoming a professional football player. For others, it’s becoming a doctor. Of course, our goals change as we age and grow up. While your childhood dream might not coincide with the dream of your adulthood, we are pretty sure you have one. And we are also pretty sure that your dreams have taken a step back once addiction took place. This is something that happens even with functional alcoholics, and it’s a lot more common among those with a serious addiction.
Luckily, now that you are out of rehab, you can finally give your time and attention to what really matters – your lifelong dream. Thus, one of your main goals for cocaine recovery should be to work on your aspirations. However, we want to warn you about one thing – being realistic. Just like anything else, regaining your focus and motivation will take some time. Therefore, don’t feel like you have to go back to your old self right away. Some adjustment period is fairly normal.
Once you go through those initial stages, doing one small thing every day will get you closer to reaching your goal. Knowing that you are that much closer to achieving your dream will help you stay on the right track. Besides, taking the necessary steps will help you be proud of yourself and how far you have come. This would have never been possible have you stayed in the shackles of addiction which kept you from reaching your full potential.
Do you have any goals for cocaine recovery in Pennsylvania of your own?
Addiction is a highly unique thing where everyone faces different circumstances. Therefore, you are more than welcome to create your own goals for cocaine recovery in Pennsylvania. However, we would like you to keep one thing in mind: the time it takes to achieve some of them. You might feel like your old self as soon as you finish rehab and get out in the real world. Unfortunately, you are still going to be pretty vulnerable, and you will need some time to adjust. That’s why we advise you to make long-term goals, but only if you plan to create a step-by-step guide of how you plan to reach them. It’s always better to focus on the present and know that a bright future awaits.