Leaving home to attend an addiction treatment facility is a significant step in one’s journey to sobriety. However, while graduating from these transformative programs is cause for celebration, moving back into one’s home can come with a number of unique stressors.
While one’s perspective on their sobriety may have changed, one’s living environment will need to transform alongside an individual to reflect the strides they have made to exemplify the kind of lifestyle an individual wants to create for themselves. Resetting one’s environment after treatment is a way to distance oneself from past behaviors and instead establish an atmosphere more akin to one’s newfound sober goals.
The Need to Transform Living Space
One’s environment can hold a lot of influence over one’s recovery path. While environments can be used as a tool to further support one’s sobriety, they can also harbor a lot of memories of one’s past use, making them a stressful environment to be in while navigating one’s newfound sober lifestyle. These influences can make urges and cravings more prevalent, and access to past routines and company can make falling back into these dangerous routines incredibly easy.
Resetting one’s environment is a way to redefine one’s living space to a place of sobriety that isn’t just recommended but necessary for creating a feeling of safety in one’s sobriety following moving out of a treatment facility and back into one’s personal living space.
Setting Up Success
Accepting that one’s environment will need to change in some capacity can be an intimidating revelation. However, it is also a time for each individual to truly embrace the transformations they are setting up for themselves. Resetting one’s environment can mean a number of different things, from changing one’s daily routines and relationships with those with whom one shares a living space to redecorating and repurposing certain rooms for new activities and therapeutic outlets.
An individual can use their living space to reinforce their goals and focus on their accomplishments in sobriety. Setting up a new routine that starts with the following can help be a way to begin resetting the atmosphere of one’s environment:
- Personal mantras in the morning
- Setting up photographs taken while on vacations in one’s sobriety with supportive peers
- Utilizing motivational posters
- Hanging up a calendar that has one’s goals written on them
Discussing setting up new decorations alongside one’s family members or roommates can allow an individual to establish a new atmosphere for their continued recovery at home. It can also open an individual up to the possibilities and perspectives in one’s environment, adding a degree of freedom and agency to continue exploring one’s sober identity.
Creating Space for Change
Rooms hold powerful connotations, especially for one’s ongoing recovery and sobriety. One’s time spent in a particular room may be closely tied to certain emotions or practices, such as a basement where one commonly used to hide their drinking or a back porch where one used to smoke.
Even if an individual is dedicated to their sober transformation, these familiar spaces can bring up familiar feelings, either additional urges, stresses, or even difficult feelings of depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, or regret. These emotions can be challenging to process, adding to an already tumultuous transition out of the recovery sphere. Resetting these environments can mean taking these spaces and providing new connotations and activities assigned to them.
For example, one’s basement, where one used to drink, can instead be turned into a new art or music studio in order to begin providing a new purpose to the space in a way that is detached from one’s previous use. Likewise, one’s porch can instead be used to begin learning to cook and grill, or even set up an herb garden in order to provide a new sense of purpose and reflect the skills and newfound priorities of one’s sober goals.
Redefining Relationships
One’s overall outlook on their relationships may have also changed during one’s time in a treatment facility. Resetting one’s environment may also entail redefining the relationships one has with the friends or family members who share one’s living space.
New shared hobbies can be developed to reflect a new, changing future, and one’s expectations may change as well. While some roommates or supports may be intimately aware of the struggles of one’s recovery journey, other relationships may be most beneficial as a way to detach from these stresses and begin to develop new, relaxing hobbies in line with one’s developing sober identity as a result.
Resetting your environment after returning from a treatment program can be a significant change. However, learning to use your environment as a tool for further healing and change can be instrumental in maintaining one’s sober transformations, helping to prevent relapse and unnecessary stresses. At Everlast Recovery Centers, we understand the recovery power of one’s environment and work to curate a safe and homey atmosphere for you to detach and process your own vulnerabilities in a safe and supportive space. Whether you are taking your first steps into recovery or looking to expand your recovery toolkit, we offer an array of programs to meet you where you are on your journey. From art, writing, and music to mindfulness practices, yoga, and more, we personalize your time with us to address your unique needs and goals in a safe environment and supportive community. For more information on how we can further support you in your recovery journey, call (866) 338-6925.
