Recover Like a Rock Star: 4 Tips

The term “rock star” used to refer to, well, a rock star – a pop musician with long, unkempt hair who used his stardom to justify trashing hotel rooms and smashing guitars. These days, “rock star” is used more often to capture good behavior than bad. We call high-performing employees “rock stars” in the business world, and a rock star mom is one who juggles the kids, the laundry, and her 9-5 job while still managing to get her nails manicured regularly. A rock star, then, is someone who succeeds at something – who brings star power to the table where it matters most. How do you recover from addiction like a rock star? Read on to find out.   

Rock Your Higher Power

There is a reason why the successful Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous begins with reference to faith that “a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Addiction is sickness of the soul, not just the body and mind. Numerous studies have positively linked religious belief or spirituality with long-term recovery from substance abuse. Higher resilience to stress, a more optimistic life outlook, and lower levels of anxiety that emerge from religious faith increase the chances of a recovering addict leaving his or her drug of choice behind permanently.

Rock Your Recovery Community

You’ve heard that it takes a village to raise a child? Well, it takes a village to recover. Nurturing connections to others who are supportive of your recovery is critical for staying on track and weathering life’s inevitable rough patches. Actively build friendships with healthy, sober people. Go to recovery meetings. Go every week. Go even when you think you’re doing well and don’t need them as much anymore. And stick with your sponsor because accountability is key.

Rock a “Long-Haul” Mindset

The habits of heart and mind that held you in your addiction weren’t developed in a day, and they won’t be reversed in one. A 30-day or even 90-day rehabilitation program is typically just the beginning of the slow, rugged trek toward regaining your life. This can be a hard pill to swallow (forgive the pun) for many of us in today’s “instant” society with its drive-thru meals and on-demand programming. One day at a time, one step at a time, one goal at a time is sage advice when the road seems too hard, long and lonely. Recovery is a lifelong commitment to staying clean and growing as a person.

Rock the Sacrifice

The life you gain when you leave your addiction behind cannot be compared to the misery of your old existence. But there’s a cost to getting clean, and it’s not just the sort that hits your wallet. Your mental and physical comfort, relationships, old stomping grounds, that indefinable something extra your substance of choice seemed to provide…all may end up on the altar as you move toward whole-person health and freedom.

Embrace the loss. To take hold of something new, sometimes you have to empty your hands. If you want to grow that gorgeous bed of flowers, you will have to kill some weeds. The good news is that the sacrifice will be worth it, in the end.

And you can hack the pain (despite what your head and heart are telling you).

You are, after all, a rock star.