Addiction is a selfish disease that only cares about itself, not leaving you any room to find your passion and purpose in life. Once you enter recovery, you are suddenly left to rediscover who you are outside of addiction. You learn more about yourself through the healing process, such as what you like, dislike, can cope with, and what you can’t devote time to. It can be intimidating to create a new life for yourself, but trying new things and having the opportunity to reinvent yourself into a happy, sober person is a blessing. Now that you have gotten clean, you are free to try new things to see if there’s something you’ve been missing out on in life. When you find your passion, it can even help you stay sober.
What is Passion? How Do I Find it?
While amid addiction, you didn’t have a lot of time to focus on hobbies that you like. This is because addiction alters the brain to continually crave its next fix, leaving little time for pleasure activities. Now that you are clean, you may not know where to start because you aren’t sure what “finding your passion” means. Finding your passion means trying new things and exploring various activities that interest you, seeing what excites and gives you energy, then focusing your skills on that activity, and using it to progress your life forward. You can find your passion by trying out different things, such as hobbies or activities you’ve never done before.
Redefining Yourself
It is not uncommon for individuals that have struggled with addiction to fall into the trap of labeling themselves as an “addict” and not being sure how to erase it even after getting clean. It can be challenging to redefine your identity when you don’t know who you are outside of addiction. Luckily, recovery is the perfect time to learn more about yourself, what you want to do, and the kind of person you want to be. Treatment centers frequently offer the necessary tools to help clients find their passions by using seminars, workshops, and even different types of alternative therapies, such as art therapy, equine therapy, and yoga. As you try new things, you can discover what sparks your interest and what you want to pursue even after treatment. This way, you can get yourself out of the label of “addict” and move into the person you were meant to be, outside of addiction and in sobriety.
Cultivating Success from Passion
As you are on the journey of finding your passion in recovery, you will also be working towards your success. Passion and success often come in pairs because you keep pushing and learning more about your passion over time. When you feel passion, it is usually a result of your brain’s reward circuit, which drives you to pursue that activity continuously. This can lead to you developing your skills further in this area, which can turn into a job or side hobby that brings you the feeling of success in your life. As you improve at your passion and dive deeper into it, your brain will want to chase that success feeling. This is why the two often go hand in hand; as success drives passion, passion also drives success.
How Does Finding Your Passion Help Boost Recovery?
Addiction recovery is a time to reset and create a new identity and life for yourself. During recovery, you learn ways to cope with your emotions and the negative situations that life may bring you, but you can also devote more time to the things you enjoy doing. As you discover hobbies and activities you enjoy doing, you just might find your passion. Once this happens, your brain will push you to pursue that particular activity more because of the pleasure it brings you. It helps take your mind off of drugs and alcohol and fills your free time, leaving you no time to get bored in recovery. Boredom is a common relapse trigger, which is why finding things to fill your free time is so important. Finding your passion will help prevent relapse and boost your self-confidence as you find your success and happiness.
Ask Yourself
If you feel lost in finding your passion, there are ways to help point you in the right direction. Ask yourself these questions to help narrow down what your passion is:
- What’s an activity you love to do that causes you to lose track of time?
- What career have you always wanted to pursue but didn’t?
- What are your natural talents/skills?
- In your past jobs, what was something you really enjoyed doing? Why?
- What makes your heart feel full?
- How did you feel when you reached out and helped others?
- What sparks your interest more than anything?
Finding your passion in recovery is crucial – it gives you the motivation and a sense of purpose to continue pursuing sobriety. It can be challenging to know where to start if you are still in that bubble of labeling yourself an “addict.” Moving outside of this label is critical so you can become the person you have always wanted to be. To find your passion, try out new hobbies or activities. This could be at your local treatment center, a support group, or basic sober activities that interest you. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t find your passion immediately, as these things take time. At Everlast Recovery Centers, we want all of our clients to find a passion that boosts their recovery both inside and outside of treatment. We can help you find what makes your heart sing today; give us a call at 866-DETOX-25. Let us help you find your life’s passion!
