The road to recovery can feel a bit lonely at times. That’s why it’s important to keep showing up to your support group meetings, even if you happen to be in a good place right now. Whether you are attending meetings based on a 12-step program or participate in another peer-based support group, here’s why you should add these meetings to your calendar every week.
1. UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT THE DISEASE OF ADDICTION
While support groups are led by peers and not counseling professionals, you’ll still get to better understand addiction as a disease and how it affects not only the addict, but their loved ones. You’re likely to have more questions as you attend more and more meetings, but you’ll also find the answers you’re looking for, too.
2. STAY MOTIVATED THROUGH ACCOUNTABILITY
Many people enjoy group exercise classes because they like being held accountable by others during their fitness journey. While an addiction recovery group meeting won’t promise to burn calories like a spin class, you will find other opportunities to mark your progress—and plenty of opportunities to cheer each other on, too.
3. FIND SOLUTIONS TO CHALLENGES
Everyone has their own unique challenges in recovery. When you listen to others about how they’ve dealt with their setbacks and difficulties, you’ll learn new skills and coping mechanisms so that you can better deal with your own.
4. TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITHOUT FEAR OF JUDGMENT
Everyone who is at a group session has had an addiction as part of their life experience, whether they are a recovering addict themselves or are seeing the disease ravage a loved one. No matter where you are on that road yourself, there’s usually someone who’s ahead of you and someone who’s behind you.
This means that just about anything you say in group will resonate with someone. So go ahead and say it. This is your chance to talk things out with people who have “been there, done that,” and they’re not going to judge you for what you’re going through right now.
5. DISCOVER OTHER RESOURCES
Support groups are just one of many resources available for individuals in recovery. When you attend one regularly, you’ll often hear recommendations about other resources that have been useful to them in recovery, such as book or podcast recommendations. Unlike reading online reviews from a random stranger, you’ll get feedback from people you have grown to know and trust in group, so you’ll feel better about trying new resources out for yourself.
6. FIND STRENGTH AND HOPE
There’s strength in numbers, but there’s hope, too. The very fact that your support group exists is proof that there’s a light at the end of what often seems like an interminable tunnel of addiction. “One day at a time” is a key phrase of many 12-step programs because it’s often easier to find hope when you take things day by day in your recovery, or as you support someone going through theirs. By coming together on a regular basis with others who are on the same path as you, you’ll feel stronger and more hopeful about the future.
Article source: www.beachsiderehab.com
