The key to ending substance abuse is replacing it with purpose in your life. Habitual substance abuse gets you into an unhealthy frame of mind. Unconsciously, you begin to focus your life on your substance abuse and you begin to neglect everything else going on around you. You neglect purposeful activities, good money management, personal relationships and your own health because of your desire to lose yourself in your substance abuse. If you begin to take back your life and refocus it on what is purposeful, one step at a time you will overcome your substance abuse.
Firstly, find ways of filling the time that you formerly spent on substance abuse with things that are purposeful, such as career aspirations, meaningful hobbies and personal vocations. Perhaps your substance abuse distracted you from a career path and you want to reclaim your ambition. Perhaps you have always intended to learn a musical instrument or a foreign language and substance abuse kept you from your goals. Or maybe you desire to travel and maintain a travel blog now that you have your sobriety back. Whatever your goals may be, they can serve as a way of defeating your substance abuse.
Your finances always suffer due to substance abuse. Recreational substances, such as alcohol, marijuana and elicit drugs are expensive. If you have been using any of these things enough to qualify as a substance abuser, you have probably damaged your finances. Now that you are motivated to take back your sobriety, take your new money management seriously and follow a careful budget.
It is important that you rekindle relationships that were lost during substance abuse. Substance abusers do not realize how they affect their loved ones being in a perpetually intoxicated state. It is likely that some of your relationships fell away from you as a result of your substance abuse, and now is the time to care for them again.
And lastly, substance abuse messes up your body chemistry and deteriorates your physical health. No doubt your body is very thankful that you are quitting your substance abuse, though it may come with some withdrawal symptoms. Take this time to focus on your health and heal the damage that was done during your substance abuse.