Visualization is a great technique for meditation, goal-setting, and recovering. Creating a vision for your recovery can help you connect to your reason for enduring the treatment process.

Do you know who you want to be when you grow up? Many people who might be labeled grown ups still aren’t entirely sure. Don’t worry, you don’t have to have an answer. What about an idea of who you want to be in your recovery? In the beginning of recovery it might be hard to conceptualize. You might not know who you want to be but have a distinct idea about who you don’t want to be. If you’re withdrawing from drugs and alcohol as you start your recovery from addiction, for example, it is likely you don’t want to be addicted to drugs and alcohol anymore. You want to be the kind of person who doesn’t have to go through detox because they can’t control themselves to abstain from substances which cause wreckage in their personal life.

If you’re starting your recovery from a different mental health disorder you might want to be someone who feels happier if you’re depressed, calm if you’re anxious, able to have healthy and loving relationships if you’re codependent. Who you want to be in recovery is hidden somewhere within you. Your addiction or the symptoms of your mental health disorder have concealed the naturally best parts of you. Stick with recovery and you’ll become who you want to become- you won’t be perfect, because nobody is, but you’ll be a great work in progress. Remember it’s about progress, not perfection.

When your life isn’t being controlled by drugs and alcohol or unmanageable emotions, you have room for so many more possibilities. You can achieve whatever you want to achieve once you’ve gained the tools and techniques necessary for living in a manageable way. You might have a career you want to return to or you find your old vocation triggering so you head down a new path. Whatever you want to do with your life in terms of work, travel, hobbies, and activity is now yours.

Where do you want to be in your life and your recovery in six months? A year? Two years? In recovery, you are encouraged to stay in the present moment, living life on life’s terms, one day at a time. At the same time, you are also encouraged to dream and create a life beyond those dreams- especially your wildest. Where you want to take your life is now possible because you aren’t taking your life through a downward spiral anymore.

When do you want your new life to take place? Today? Tomorrow? Making the decision to go to a residential treatment program for an addiction or a mental health disorder is a life changing choice. Unfortunately, there really is no time like the present. You can always find a million reasons to put off making the changes you need to make in your life. The time is now to start working toward a better future, because a better future is possible.

It takes people years to figure out their “why”. The great contemplation of everyone on earth is why am I here? Existential inquiry aside, you will find your “why” in recovery. Ultimately you will discover that all personal “why” aside, the reason you get sober and find recovery for a mental health disorder is so that you can help others who are struggling. Once you are no longer struggling the way that you have been, you are an inspiration to others who are. You’re living proof that you can recover.

You can recover. At Cottonwood Tucson, we are offering clients a world renown residential treatment program taking an integrative approach to co-occurring disorders. For information on our detox and treatment programs, call us today: (888) 727-0441