Addiction Masterclass: Sustained Recovery and Beyond - Your Sober Future

When it comes to the suffering and hardship that may come in early addiction recovery, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm Evan. I'm your resident mental health and addiction therapist, and this is my addiction masterclass. Now, there was an idea that was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book outliers, that to be a master of just about any skill, it takes about 10,000 hours of practice. It was interesting. I did a little math, and in around two years, you've had 11,000 waking hours in recovery.

So to me, that was pretty amusing, that right around that period, you start to master recovery according to that concept. Now, again, of course, there's no perfect way of measuring it. I just thought it was quite interesting that at this time, you really have a better understanding of what you need for your recovery and yourself. At this point, a lot of people start to dig deeper below the surface, not just in their chemical health, but they start to do deeper work in therapy, mental health, doing trauma therapy.

So many of my clients are people in this later term, maintenance recovery, who finally want to deal with some issues that they kind of put aside or they've been avoiding for a long time. So for them, it's not about just staying sober. It's about living a more fulfilled and happy life. One that's more open, one that's more freeing. Sometimes all it takes is having a solid base, a good foundation, to be able to dig into these deeper issues that can be a little bit dysregulating when you start digging into them.

Some of those things in childhood really stay with us. Some of those old narratives can really hold us back from being as happy as we could possibly be. And if we neglect that in the long term, that can lead to having cravings again or wanting to relapse. If you're not all that happy in recovery. Recovery is all about building a life worth living. As I say, if you're not happy in recovery, well, the temptation to use is going to be that much more because you're tempted to say, well, what's the point?

I'm not happy sober, so I may as well get that instant satisfaction of drugs. That's why it's so crucial at this stage and beyond to always be diligent, to avoid those relapses of negligence, to stay aware, stay awake, know that that relapse is stalking. It's waiting. It's waiting for you to have a weak moment. But as long as you continue to stay plugged in, to remember why you're in recovery, in the first place and continue that healthy emotional, psychological maintenance, you're going to be in a much better place, and your life's going to be so much more fulfilling in the long term.

Now, the last message I'm going to leave you before ending this series is life is all about finding meaning and purpose. And this is so crucial with recovery to find some sense of meaning and purpose. Why are you doing the difficult thing of staying sober, of avoiding something that is so pleasurable? There's a reason why we do this, whether it's for our own health, for our family to live up to our potential for helping others, whatever that may be. If you find that sense of purpose in the long run, you're going to be much healthier, much happier, and you're going to stay sober.

So whether you were watching this for yourself or a friend, a family member struggling with addiction, just know that there is hope. Just like any new skill, just like any new habit, it takes time, it takes practice, and it takes a strategic approach. So I hope you got some good tips and tricks from this video series. Please reach out to me. Tell me your experience and what else do you want to hear?