Rehabitus: Empowering Personal Growth in Life After Addiction.
At a glance:
To support clarity and order in your life: keep a diary/ journal.
To help your written words flow: find that pen that you love to write with.
To commit to personal growth: find a small area, wherever you are, where you can concentrate on writing for a few minutes a day.
Unless we make a goal happen, it’s unlikely to fall into our laps.
Without direction, we’ll float around at the mercy of what happens to us.
We need to make things happen, especially given our destructive former habits.
And making things happen starts with knowing what you want, and knowing the personal traits you’d like to build.
It can take minutes to begin crafting your desired life.
Grab a nice A4 page-a-day diary and a pen you love writing with. (Alternatively, start with a piece of paper now and get a diary later.)
Clear your zone where you can think and write in private with clarity.
Leave your diary there: that’s its place. This isn’t something to cart around to the shops; your life blueprint stays in its spot.
Got your diary? Let’s start.
What are your values?
Values are principles you’ve decided will guide your behaviours and decision-making processes. They are your moral compass or ethical standards. Your values are the core of your identity, or perhaps the identity of the new you.
Let’s write them down on a clear page in the front of our diary.
I’ll give you a few of mine:
Growth - learning // adventure // daring to take action // always forward; never back.
Respect - self-respect // respect for others // respect for the planet.
Keep it simple - just be consistent // live within means // ask ‘Is this good for me?’
As you can see, I’ve not explicitly stated ‘be sober’ or ‘don’t drink’. That's deliberate, reflecting my affirmative approach to my values, where sobriety happens as a natural result anyway. I want to grow. I respect myself too much. I do what’s good for me and others. It’s just a given that substances are not involved. Sobriety is a foregone conclusion. But in early recovery, that might be a key value worth pinpointing if you wish.
Your values don’t have to be static and set. I add values or revise what I’ve written all the time. I have subcategories of values. The point is that you have a page of reference.
Your diary is your log of personal mastery.
Now we know our values, we can create our days with bite-size goals that align with who we are in sobriety. Let’s take my growth values and see what I might assign myself in a day:
Growth - learning // adventure // daring to take action // always forward; never back.
Read 5 pages of a self-help book before breakfast and jot down the highlights at the top of my page.
Go for a walk at 11:15 and speak to a stranger. Note how my interaction went and what I could work on for next time.
Meet my friend at the gym at 14:00. Do 2 more reps or increase the weight slightly more than last week. Try the new exercise I saw on YouTube. Make a log of any personal bests.
Start creating tomorrow’s to-do list with at least 3 items to tick off.
You’ve got a page a day to utilise. Assign to yourself what you want to happen in your day based on your values and goals, and act upon it. Use it to be proactive.
You may give yourself a thought of the day, an affirmation, a gratitude list, or a to-do list that ties in with what you want. I use the top right corner of the page to draw in my to-do tickboxes. Why not try a to-don’t list as part of your relapse prevention strategy?
How about what happened today? Use your journal retrospectively at night time too. What did you do today and how did you do it? Were there any challenges? How did you feel? What could you do better next time? This practice ensures that every night, you go to bed with a clear understanding of your achievements and a focused vision for the days ahead.
Try the 10 Minute Brain Dump
In addition to regular entries, maybe when times feel overwhelming - try engaging in a '10-minute brain dump.' Set a timer for exactly 10 minutes and write down anything and everything that comes to mind. This practice isn't just about unloading thoughts; it's a surprisingly effective way to relieve mental pressure. You might be amazed at how this short exercise can lead to fresh insights and actionable ideas that help get you unstuck.
The goal for today is to keep a diary to support clarity and order in your life.
In future posts, we’ll delve into relapse prevention, life skills, health & well-being, the power of habits, the power of choices, education & awareness, personal development, belonging, and crafting a new identity. All of which are going to need that diary and that commitment to small actions.
Thank you for reading.
What Rehabitus Offers:
Discover practical insights on building a growth-oriented mindset after addiction.
Connect with a community dedicated to a sober and fulfilling life.
Stay inspired with regular updates, new perspectives, and continuous support.
Support Rehabitus with a one-off donation: