Staying Motivated When Trying to Get Clean

Overcoming addiction of any kind is a difficult and long-lasting challenge which will test every part of your character. If you have already made the decision to get clean then you have already taken what is the biggest step on your journey to a better life. I was taking with my friend Erik Bugen a few days ago who helps people in overcoming all kinds of addiction and we noted that motivation was one of the critical factors to success and failure in overcoming addiction. To that end, I decided to put together a few tips for you on how you can stay motivated during your battle to a clean life.

Planning

The first step which you can do that will help to chart your progress and stay on track is to create a plan, try a 6 week plan first and then after that move it to a 10 then 12 and 18 week plan. The plan can be whatever you choose, naturally staying clean for the duration will feature but try to add small, daily challenges which are within your reach to achieve. Anything like passing the drinks section in a grocery store without picking something up, making yourself 3 meals per day, calling family and friends. The key is to put into your plan the things that you weren’t doing whilst you were an addict. A plan like this will help you to stay on track.

Exercise

Exercise is a great motivator, it will not only help you feel good about yourself but it will help you body to improve from addiction and leave you feeling fitter and stronger. Exercise is a great replacement for addiction, it will release feel-good chemicals around the body and it will also give you reason to get up each day. The beauty of exercise is that you can constantly push yourself to improve, to run the extra kilometer, to lift the extra 10 kilograms or to do those extra 20 push-ups. Exercise will keep you busy, help you get fit and more importantly keep you motivated on your goals.

Talking, Repairing Relationships 

Many addicts burn bridges with regards to their friends and family and re-connected with these people is a great incentive for staying clean. In order to re-build these relationships you will have to talk openly and honestly to your friends and family and tell them about your plan to get clean. Anyone who loves you will forgive you and support you and this is a great motivator when it comes to keeping your life on track. If you do not have friends and family around you with whom you can talk then there are lots of charity services which can provide you with a professional that you can talk to about your feelings, your thoughts, your hopes and your fears. Having someone that listens to you is a great way of exercising your demons and they will help you to stay motivated whilst getting clean.