Benefits of Setting Goals in Recovery

The road to recovery is a personal and fulfilling journey that varies based on the individual. While you share similar experiences with other friends, family, and peers, you also likely have your own set of needs and goals. Ultimately, recovery is not a one-size-fits-all approach, nor should it be. Your unique background and aspirations are what make you who you are. Therefore, with any good treatment program and recovery regimen, implementing goals that speak to your needs can significantly benefit and help sustain your recovery. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits that setting goals can have on shaping the quality of your recovery.

Setting Goals Requires Self-Examination

Becoming sober is a transformative experience that brings you back in touch with the activities that motivated and inspired you before your addiction took hold. It also helps you seek the potential and possibilities you have moving forward. To establish the things that now motivate you, you must first look inward to better understand your emotions and what activities speak to you. The process of setting goals is challenging because you might be feeling emotions that you have not felt for a very long time.

You are also overcoming the negative perceptions you have of yourself. Such perceptions become linked to your addiction. Ultimately, the process of using therapies such as mindfulness or CBT helps you reconnect with healthy emotions and establish better habits that are suited to serve your recovery. Rebuilding the trust and confidence within you takes a great deal of self-examination, but using goals to help you discover and build upon these newfound emotions will benefit your recovery for years to come.

Goals Require Positive Thinking

Planning for success by setting goals means that you need to put your energy into what you want, not what you don’t want. Preventing yourself from setting healthy goals because you are focused on the things that you can’t do will only lead to negative thinking or self-sabotage. When you convince yourself that you cannot do something, this perspective sets you up to feel like you are only in a succeed-or-fail scenario. This is a black-and-white outlook that can harm your recovery when you do not meet those expectations. However, using a positive outlook has you view your recovery and your needs in a new way. A positive outlook is motivating, and it helps reduce the stress and pressure that comes with maintaining sobriety.

Additionally, shifting your perspective will help you view yourself and your capabilities in a positive way. The chances are that you have not seen yourself in a positive way after years of substance use. However, setting such goals that promote a positive outlook helps change your view of yourself toward a more capable you. Being able to see yourself in this way helps grow your self-confidence and self-sufficiency in handling recovery challenges.

Help You Focus on the Person You Want to Be

A big part of moving forward in recovery is learning to understand that you cannot change the past and should not define yourself based on the past. When you work with a counselor, therapist and peers alike, you learn to accept and deal with the past. Setting goals during recovery gives you the chance to begin focusing on making the changes that shape the future you want. While you might not have thought of your future before, recovery offers you the opportunity for a fresh start.

Setting goals helps you think about the person you want to be, not the person you were when using substances. You also get the opportunity to think about what you want to do moving forward. You will realize that you now have room for the activities and people you have not connected with for some time. You’ll even have the opportunity to pursue activities that you might never have imagined yourself doing before.

Deciding on Your Goals

When you are ready to start setting goals for yourself, try to be reasonable in your approach. It’s important to view each small goal as a stepping stone leading you toward your bigger destination. You will also want to set reasonable expectations. Setting goals that are too high or being too hard on yourself is counterproductive and can even harm your recovery. Start by making a list of the things you would like to do or change. What would you like to accomplish over the next few days, weeks, months, or years? Your goals may also relate to the following:

• Relationships
• Career
• Lifestyle
• Finances
• Personal Development

Remember that it will take time to achieve these goals and become the person you want to be and, if you become discouraged at any point, remember to turn to your support network of friends, family, peers, and professionals. Knowing that you are never alone and have the support of others is very reassuring and helpful toward motivating you to keep moving forward in recovery.

Setting goals is not only crucial for recovery but your life. Goals can help keep you motivated by providing you structure and direction for each day. If you are currently struggling with the challenges of finding your footing in your recovery, the time to seek help is now. At Choice House, we believe that setting goals are vital in helping you understand that you are not the person you were when using, but rather a person with endless potential. Goals also help you establish who you are and what your needs and desires are. We believe that each individual’s recovery story is different and, therefore, each person’s unique goals are essential in helping them tell their story. With an approach that offers both conventional and alternative treatment options, Choice House ensures that the men who seek help with us are always getting the care they need. Find out more, call us today at (720) 577-4422.