Not only do people recover from drug and alcohol addiction every day, but research also shows that they can thrive as sober individuals. People in recovery go on to buy their dream homes, drive their dream cars, and start their dream businesses.
When our residents complete residential treatment with us in South Carolina, we provide them with the therapeutic tools and safe space needed to establish boundaries that promote long-term sobriety. Boundaries contribute to healthy environments and can revitalize recovery. Life without boundaries, on the other hand, can lead to stress, discomfort, inauthenticity, anxiety, and relapse.
Why You Need Boundaries in Recovery
Boundaries are guidelines that you choose to follow/enforce to stay safe, healthy, and happy. While boundaries can help determine how you let others treat you, they also function as personal limits that prevent you from putting yourself in dangerous situations, behaving disrespectfully, or jeopardizing your health or the health of the people around you. Most importantly, boundaries help prevent relapse.
If someone leaving addiction treatment is thrown back into daily life with constant temptations, poor working conditions, a tense home environment, or a surplus of unsupported emotional needs, they will most likely relapse, and quickly. Boundaries are a way to safeguard sobriety and pave the way toward a life that supports you.
When people battling addiction can’t properly protect themselves and enforce their boundaries, they may resort to addiction transference, cross-dependence, or substitute addictions—which are all names for the same behavior: replacing one addiction with another. Drug or alcohol addiction can shift to an exercise or food addiction, or to excessive shopping or serial dating. Poor coping methods are unique to each individual. Therefore, the first step in creating boundaries is to see where they’re needed for your own unique circumstances.
The Best Boundaries To Create For Long-Term Sobriety
- Exercise your right to say “no.” Say no to anything that causes you to crave, fixate on, or be in close proximity to substances. If you realize that being at a certain park sparks cravings for drug use, avoid that park. If parties are too tempting, decline the invitation. If family functions trigger you, avoid them. If working in the service industry is tempting you toward relapse, work with our continuing care team to begin the job search for a more suitable position. If you feel overwhelmed, in over your head, or even if you have an intuition that a person or place would be draining or triggering, just say no.
- Set boundaries related to health. Recognize where and when your body is put under too much stress. Set personal boundaries with yourself regarding sleep, nutrition, and fitness. Make sure you’re aware of and responsive to your hunger, fatigue, thirst, and mood. Once you’ve mastered caring for yourself, you’ll be in a much better position to identify people who pose a threat to your well-being by not respecting your needs and limits. This is where the third boundary comes in…
- Set interpersonal limits. Your recovery community is your lifeline, and it includes all the supportive people in your life: friends, family, coworkers, and fellow recovering peers. But if anyone begins to put you in positions where you frequently must say no or compromise your physical needs, it’s time to set a boundary with them and keep some distance between you.
Learn Better Boundaries With Waypoint Recovery Center Today
With programs in place like experiential therapy, Tactical Recovery for Veterans, and outpatient resources, our team at Waypoint does all it can to help you set and maintain effective boundaries. Feel free to contact us today at either of our South Carolina facilities for more information about how we can help you or your loved one.
