Accountability is a powerful thing. It can help you stay on the right path, and it can also help those around you to do the same. There are many different types of accountability, but what kind will I learn in recovery housing?
1. Self-Accountability
One of the essential forms of accountability that you should always hold yourself accountable for is the changes that you make in your life. For example, if after rehab you go back to some of the same people who were bad influences before, and then there’s a good chance that relapses could occur. If someone wants to continue living their lives as though addiction never happened, then they have no business being around other recovering addicts either. This means stepping up and taking responsibility for what happens next in your life so that you can continue growing and learning in recovery.
For instance, if you happen to relapse while living in sober living, you must take responsibility for your actions. No matter what mistakes were made before this incident, the most important thing now is to learn from it and move on as best you can.
2. Social Accountability
Did you know that one of the reasons so many people relapse after going to treatment is because they don’t have enough social accountability? That means they spend time with other users or even their drug dealers rather than recovering friends. Unfortunately, if fellow addicts and alcoholics surround you, you will all want to use together. This lack of social accountability is one of the main reasons addiction treatment centers exist – so that people can go somewhere where there are no drugs or alcohol and support each other in recovery. After all, if everyone around you is sober, the chances are excellent that at least some people feel as though they shouldn’t use.
However, social accountability also includes staying accountable to the rules of your treatment center or sober living home. This can be very challenging at first if you have never been held responsible for every single thing that you do. However, the more you practice living by the rules in recovery housing, the easier it will become to live by them outside of it as well.
3. Financial Accountability
One common cause of relapse is financial stress. If you are struggling with money issues before entering long-term rehab, this situation will not improve much while recovering there. So rather than focusing on paying bills or finding a job, you will be spending much of your time learning to manage your addiction. However, when you get back home and go into a sober living environment, you must continue working on these issues to keep yourself from relapsing. This might seem like an overwhelming task at first, but it can become easier to manage all aspects of your finances over time.
Financial accountability is essential in recovery as long as there are bills to pay and rent money due each month. This is one area where relapse can occur if not handled properly. While some people might argue otherwise, money does bring happiness in the end, especially when you don’t lose everything due to a drug or alcohol problem. It means that handling debt, security, and financial stability in recovery housing can go a long way toward preventing relapse.
4. Relapse Prevention Accountability
There is another form of accountability that you will learn when in long-term rehab or entering into sober living; this is about staying committed to your recovery. One of the main reasons people fail at achieving sobriety for years is that they never get serious about their sobriety from the very beginning. To prevent relapse, you must commit yourself to follow specific guidelines while learning to stay sober later. For example, not going back to where drugs or alcohol were used may seem like common sense, but this doesn’t mean it is easy to follow through. However, by committing to prevention accountability, you will be less likely to succumb to the temptation of using drugs or alcohol again.
Conclusion
Although accountability was a big part of your rehab program, it is also an essential aspect of living in a sober living environment. By continuing to hold yourself accountable for the changes you need to make in your life, you will gradually become more responsible and self-reliant as time moves on. If you slip up at first, then that’s okay as long as you learn from it and move forward from there. To create a better future for yourself and avoid addiction relapse, you must always keep yourself accountable for the decisions and choices made each day.
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