Life gets extremely stressful, but for those who suffer from low self-esteem, the vicissitudes of life can be particularly overwhelming, especially if they don’t have the proper coping life skills to manage stress. Effective coping life skills are rooted in inner strength; inner strength comes from a lifetime of positive reinforcement, love, and supportive relationships. If you have never experienced unconditional love and support from family members who were supposed to provide that, you will have a harder time believing that you have what it takes to overcome obstacles. Add depressive disorders, bad social influences, toxic relationships, and problems that seem to compound by the minute, and you may start to crack under pressure and seek escape through drugs and alcohol. Having the right coping life skills will help you navigate through life, but it first starts with kindness toward yourself.
Here are 3 Essential Life Skills after Addiction Treatment
1. Beliefs
If people are turning to drugs rather than dealing with their problems, it most likely means that they see no way out; drugs and alcohol provide temporary relief from the pain of feeling incompetent, inadequate, alone, and unappreciated. According to a survey, adult substance abusers are 2.7 times more likely to abuse their children and 4.2 times more likely to be neglectful. (1) This means that the majority of people who turn to drugs were raised in households where their parents were abusive and addicted to chemical dependency. It is a vicious cycle that destroys generations of self-esteem, but a licensed addiction professional can help you replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an evidence-based practice that helps people achieve greater self-awareness and thereby recognize negative thought patterns when they occur. Slowly but surely, clients find themselves breaking the chains of addiction through daily guided practice.
2. Identifying Your Resources
About 23,000 youths leave the foster care system each year upon reaching the age of emancipation. Without a family support system, these youths are at high risk for homelessness and poverty. (2) Upon exiting the foster care system, these young adults lack the financial literacy and supportive environment in which they can learn and grow from their mistakes without adverse consequences. As pressures of life continue to build, they try to make do with their resources or lack thereof until they resort to substance abuse for relief. New Method Wellness provides the emotional support, guidance, and counseling for adults who come from such backgrounds. Even if clients did not come from a foster care system, they might still experience that feeling of isolation when they watch their peers go home to their families. Here at New Method Wellness, clients are always welcome to check in regularly with our substance abuse counselors to ensure that they are getting the guidance they need in order to lead and develop successful life skills.
3. Accepting Responsibility
It’s easy to shift blame to people and circumstances for the way things turned out. However, a valid reason for addictive behaviors, toxic households, and poor socioeconomic factors cannot always be the defining factor for one’s unfortunate turn of events. The acrimonious bitterness to which we cling about our past blinds us to the present-day faults we make on a consistent basis. Accepting one’s responsibility for substance abuse addiction is the first step to treatment; after detox, learning to take responsibility for destructive behaviors will help people in recovery to stay in recovery. If people do not take into consideration how their actions affect themselves and others around them, one addictive behavior (i.e., substance abuse) most likely be replaced by another addiction, such as gambling, passive-aggressive behavior, etc. Until one learns how to take responsibility, he or she will not fully change from the inside out.
We are Here for You
New Method Wellness provides an incredibly supportive and safe environment for all prospective, current, and former clients. It’s a safe haven where you can count on counselors for guidance and where you can turn to peers for friendship and fun. We offer a variety of treatment programs that cater to your interests while providing effective, evidence-based therapy to treat dual diagnosis disorders. In our Extended Aftercare program, clients are prescribed customized plans whereby they develop new essential coping life skills to ensure success and sobriety.
To learn more about New Method Wellness’s program, call (866) 951-1824!
Protocol. Accessed August 3, 2017.
2. The University of Missouri-Columbia. “Lacking family support, those transitioning out of foster care need financial assistance: Researcher says states should provide more resources for young people aging out of the system.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 June 2016
