Abuse Recovery
Ways Addiction Recovery Can Foster a Successful Career
by Per Wickstrom
Addiction recovery is an ongoing course of action. No one just beats addiction at a rehab center and never has to work at their recovery ever again. While at a rehab center one can and does certainly detox, rehabilitate, and handle every aspect of their addiction to the point where he or she is no longer actively addicted to drugs and alcohol, but there is still always more to it. There is a good reason why my rehab centers have such a strong focus on not only rehabilitating those who go there, but also on giving them the tools that they need to be successful in life after rehab. Relapse is a real threat, and my rehab centers do everything they can to help set their clients up for a relapse-free life. 
I have a few words to say on the key aspects of living a relapse free life:
- There’s no such thing as a “magic cure” or, “one size fits all,” treatment that works for anyone and everyone. The best kinds of treatment programs are ones that offer varied services and an open-ended, multi-modality approach. Staying clean after rehab will be a different struggle for different people, so no one method in going through life relapse-free will work for every single person who tries it.
- Treatment should address more than just your drug abuse or alcohol abuse. If you want to stay clean after you complete rehab, you need to also focus on improving your career, your family, your health, and your psychological well-being. After you complete rehab you must keep working on these things and not let them fall by the wayside. That is key to staying sober.
- Commitment and follow-through are key factors in your recovery. Don’t get lazy or shiftless about your continuing recovery ever. You have to keep working on it year after year after year. This is the only way that you will be able to beat the habit for good, as addiction recovery is a lasting conquest.
- Continue to network and seek the support of others. I feel like a lot of what will make or break someone’s recovery is the quality and quantity of the help that they have from those who care about them. Make sure that you set up a strong safety net with family, friends, and recovery support groups.
Why I Feel that Pursuing New Goals and Ambitions is a Way to Stay Sober
I’ve suffered with addiction before, and my alcohol and cocaine crisis was life threatening for several years. But now I’ve lived relapse free for decades and something that has really helped has been my constant pursuit of my passion and my career. My passion has been to help others beat addiction like I did, and my excelling in that goal has assisted me to stay sober myself.
I couldn’t stress enough just how helpful creating a new career is to maintaining sobriety, and I also couldn’t stress enough how much the fact that one has struggled with addiction before can be such a strong incentive to succeed in such a career. Some of the most driven, hardworking, successful, and well to do business people I’ve had the fortune of knowing are themselves recovering addicts.
Accomplishing such a herculean feat as beating drug and alcohol addiction itself is such a huge accomplishment that it often leaves people wondering, “What’s next?” Well, starting a career can be what’s next. Devoting yourself to attaining personal happiness and financial success for yourself and for your family can be the best aftercare you could possibly ask for. Something about working hard and striving daily to increase the success of your business or career is a natural substance abuse deterrent. I couldn’t stress enough how helpful this is to staying away from drugs and alcohol.
If you don’t want to pursue a career or pick up again with the career that you had while addicted then that’s fine. It’s more important to do what you think will aid you the most to stay clean and sober than it is that you follow what other people tell you to do. But whether you jump into a career after rehab or not, make sure that you set meaningful goals.
Having goals to work toward and something to look forward to can be powerful antidotes to drug addiction. They give you purpose and meaning in life. They give you the incentive to really go out there and get it done. It’s hard to think about abusing drugs and alcohol when you’re working so hard at something else. Besides, people who abuse drugs and alcohol are often doing so because they are depressed, down in the dumps, or are failing in life. One who is really busy and active is usually none of those things. Keep pursuing your dreams and your passions and the pull to substance abuse will grow less and less as the years go by.
About the Author
Per Wickstrom is the founder and CEO of Best Drug Rehabilitation, one of the top holistic rehabilitation centers in the country. He found sobriety after a decades-long struggle with addiction and has since dedicated his life and career to helping others find the same life-affirming success he has. His program is based on natural and holistic methods and has helped lead hundreds to recovery. Connect with Per via Twitter or LinkedIn.
