Someone who gets sober has to find a way to become willing to conform to what recovery entails. When your consequences become too high and you get in enough pain to change, this will often give someone the desire to stop drinking and using in the short-term. What has to happen to put consecutive sober days together is one day at a time willingness.
Every day you must wake up willing to admit that you are powerless over drugs and alcohol and that your life has become unmanageable. You must be willing to do something different than what you were doing before although you may be unsure how to gain that willingness in the first place. Here are a few ways you can go to any lengths to stay sober by being willing to be willing.
Break down your ego
Thinking you have everything under control or that you know everything already puts you at a disadvantage to want to be willing. Becoming willing means that you are open-minded in letting others and new resources guide you to stay sober. EGO is an acronym that stands for Edging Guidance Out which is what you are doing if you trying to rule out willingness as a solution. Taking your pride and your ego out of the equation gives you the opportunity to permit enough willingness to let your recovery begin.
Break down your program
Give yourself the amazing gift of asking someone to sponsor you. Allowing someone who has been there and done that, just like you have, the chance to give you guidance on what they did to stay sober is a beautiful thing. Your sponsor breaking down the program for you to take action in your recovery is priceless especially with their own personal hands-on experiences. Having one person with an addiction talk to you about your addiction gives you the ability to relate which in return will give you some willingness to want to stay sober.
Break down your tools
By gaining some willingness, you will be more receptive to start picking up the recovery tools that will be instrumental in keeping you sober. The 12-Steps are beneficial in teaching you to cope with the cessation of drugs and alcohol and how to cope with the pain of your past. Growth is undeniable when you start looking at how you arrived in recovery from the evolution of your addiction. Using inventories, connecting to a Higher Power, and learning how to live in the principles that a recovery program suggests can show you how to stay sober one day at a time. Although the 12-Steps are the same for everyone, there are other tools that you can use in your own way. Meditation, for example, is personal to your own recovery as is what meetings you will attend. There is no one way to find your tools in recovery. The point is to understand what is being offered and then put them to use.
Break down your thinking
One of the biggest culprits of stealing your willingness is your thinking. Your brain can get you into more trouble than its worth by making you think that you are not worthy of recovery, that recovery will not work for you, or that recovery is full of sheep. To break down this theory of sheep, you should remember that everyone in recovery was once considered a black sheep which brought them to their flock of other black sheep. Taking the negativity out of your thinking to achieve some positive thoughts can be the very thing that promotes willingness. Positive affirmations will let you know that you are deserving of recovery and that it does not take a rocket scientist to get sober – it just takes some willingness.
Break down your gratitude
The very best part of being willing is adding some gratitude into your daily recovery grind. Being thankful for what you have no matter how small it is, makes life worthwhile. Taking an account of what you are grateful for each day will grow your willingness. Skepticism does nothing but instills negativity about recovery. Try to gather at least five things a day that can show you that you are going in the right direction. They can be as small as a front-row parking spot, as big as having a child, or all of the wonderful things that are in between. Whatever gets you to realize how great you have it by being sober and willing, can help you to understand why need to be in recovery.
Becoming willing to be willing in your recovery will get you to see life in a brand new light. Breaking down your recovery into simple terms can be the very thing that expands your willingness to much greater proportions.
Offering a full range of recovery and mental health services, Detox Center of Colorado offers “Expanded Recovery” to enrich our clients’ lives in mind, body, and spirit. Through evidence-based therapy options and the endless adventure of Colorado, Detox Center of Colorado fosters connection, encouraging clients to get connected to themselves, their peers, their families, and their higher power. With the power of recovery, clients are restored to full health and experience life-changing healing. Call us today for more information: 303-536-5463
