How Focusing on a Quote Can Help You Through Rehab
Focusing on a Quote About Addiction or Recovery Can Help You Through Rehab
There are countless tips and tricks to help patients through rehab, but among them will be a commitment to success, a desire to improve and the willingness to put in the work. Achieving those goals may be easier with a quote or two. Focusing on an inspirational or motivational quote is common during rehab, and doing so can be beneficial for ongoing sobriety and relapse prevention.
Knowing That Others Have Felt the Same Way
Motivational quotes help individuals in all walks of life, but they are especially relevant to those dealing with addiction. Battling a drug or an alcohol addiction is isolating, and many individuals feel lonely and misunderstood. Something as simple as a poignant quote, however, can help patients understand that they are not alone.
Quotes about addiction may drive home the fact that individuals are not the first to have struggled with addiction, nor will they be the last. Simply knowing that there are others who understand the situation, and who can articulate it with a meaningful quote, can be tremendously helpful for patients in rehab.
Addiction quotes might discuss those feelings of isolation, or they might tackle the frustration of being different. Quotes can highlight the unique character of patients, and they can underline the importance of sticking to a chosen path in order to reap the benefits of recovery. Whatever the subject matter, the right quote can truly help patients feel understood and less alone.
Using Quotes as a Mantra or Credo
A mantra is a set of words that gets repeated frequently. Mantras can be used in meditation, helping to clear the mind and eliminate stress and worry. Mantras can also be instrumental in identifying a clear goal and brushing past other concerns that aren’t as important as the primary objective.
In addiction treatment and rehab, sobriety is the main goal, and the primary objective is learning how to maintain and preserve that sobriety for a lifetime. As a result, a mantra can be especially helpful during this period of life.
Short, relevant quotes can quickly become mantras or credos for those in recovery. These mantras might be written on journals, taped to the walls or repeated daily as a part of a meditation exercise. They become second nature for patients, which can help keep them in the forefront when things are tough or temptations are strong.
For example, Nelson Mandela is famously known for his quote, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” This can become a mantra for patients in drug and alcohol rehab that inspires and encourages, and it is short enough to easily commit to memory for lasting impact.
Quotes Can be Sobriety Reminders
The biggest risk to addiction rehabilitation is relapse. Anywhere from 40 to 60 percent of those individuals who receive some kind of addiction treatment ultimately relapse. While there are many ways to prevent relapse, a minimal but most effective option is to be reminded about sobriety through a quote.
An inspirational or motivational quote might not seem like enough to prevent individuals from pursuing their cravings, but a meaningful quote can make a difference. Rather than focusing on the cravings or the potential short-term pleasure of falling to temptation and relapsing, patients can focus on the words of their particular quote. Repetition can be meditational, but the words themselves can also be important reminders about the importance of sobriety and how hard individuals have worked to get this far in sobriety.
Some Quotes Can Inspire Goals
Not all quotes are necessarily about addiction. In fact, some of the most effective quotes used in rehab are about goals. Patients are diverse, and so are their life goals and objectives. They might run the gamut from starting a family, to finding purpose, to feeling redeemed in the eyes of parents and loved ones.
Many quotes strike a chord with patients in rehab because they touch on these personal goals. A quote about family, for instance, might remind some patients about their goal of becoming role models for their children. A spiritual quote could encourage other patients to find inner purpose and pursue their passion of helping others through charitable work.
Acknowledging the Tough Times With a Quote
Sometimes, the best way that a quote can help during rehab is by showing the light at the end of the tunnel. There is no way around the fact that addiction treatment, while overall an important and beneficial process, can sometimes be hard. Many of the most inspiring quotes are ones that tackle the lowest points in life and remind individuals that those hard things are worth the struggle.
Henry Ford, for example, famously said, “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” Although recovering from an addiction to drugs or alcohol can feel like an unending battle, there will eventually be a time when it all makes sense and sobriety feels like the default setting for life.
Changing Problematic Behaviors With an Appropriate Quote
A significant portion of addiction treatment focuses on how to change harmful behaviors into helpful, healthy behaviors. Drug and alcohol use, of course, fits firmly into the harmful category. There are also many other behaviors that encourage bad habits, low self esteem and internal distress.
Changing these negative feelings, emotions and behaviors is tricky, but things like cognitive behavioral therapy seek to establish new patterns of behavior that point to health rather than addiction. Certain quotes can help patients see beauty, confidence and appeal in themselves, which might help eliminate destructive behavior. Some quotes can even serve as reminders to act in a positive, uplifting way.
Something as simple as a quote can make it easier for patients to get through rehab. A motivational quote can help to change behaviors, get through tough times, keep focused on important goals, feel less alone and meditate on the new positive changes in life.