Finding the motivation to quit a substance is often extremely difficult.
Many factors come into play. There’s the fact that it can be physically hard when you go into withdrawal. It can be difficult to quit when substances are the only thing you look forward to.
Drugs and alcohol are coping mechanisms that many think they can’t do without.
Even when people start recovery and participate in particular activities, they aren’t always committed to healing. They may want to heal but might not feel able to do the extra work it takes outside of counselling and group sessions.
This is, of course, where the majority of work needs to happen for a sustainable recovery to be achievable.
Struggling to maintain motivation outside of support sessions is actually very common.
Addiction and issues related to it, such as trauma from childhood, PTSD and coping with a bereavement, all take a huge amount of energy.
Psychological and emotional exhaustion wipes people out. They’ll feel drained at times, debilitated by their internal world.
This is natural.
Substances also affect sleep, the balance of hormones and “happy chemicals” in the brain. All these factors have a part to play in impacting motivation.
When everything feels bleak and exhausting, how is it possible to motivate yourself to quit a substance?
Yes, it is possible.
However, it will mean that you need to encourage a change in the way you think. But the key is to start small. Use small steps and look at areas you feel are easier to face.
This will have the knock-on effect of making the harder areas easier to take on.
It’s beneficial to remember that motivation is a drive that, as well as sinking, rises up. What this means is that although there will be days where it feels like you have none, this is only a temporary state.
The great thing is that you can do things to help increase motivation. The key is to find a reason that will drive you.
As an example, you might practise grounding exercises in a counselling session, but find it impossible to make yourself do it when you get home.
If you can think of a reason that makes you want to do grounding exercises at home, then you’ll find your way to do it.
What you’ll realise is that once you start doing something, it gets easier. The more you practise grounding exercises to get you through cravings, the easier it becomes to turn to them when a craving hits in the future.
To quit a substance, you’ll need to find reasons that help motivate you to do the things you find difficult.
So, here it’s useful to think of a few things that you want to work on. It could be anything, such as:
The great thing about this method is that you begin feeling like you can’t achieve anything but end up in a better place with both concerns.
Well, you might say, “I really want to lose weight. It’s hard to quit drinking, but if I do then I’ll lose weight.”
It could be, “I want to learn to love myself so that I can be in a healthy relationship with someone else in the future. If I work on my trauma issues, this is more likely to happen.”
Or, it could be, “I want to see my kids more often. If I work on my addiction, I’ll be able to.”
Here you can see that the first part of the sentence outlines something very important to you. You use this importance to underpin work in an area you’re struggling with.
You might say, “I want to make new positive friendships. By going to 12 Step groups, I’ll work on my addiction and have the opportunity to make new connections.”
Answer the following:
When you have both addiction and trauma, there will be areas you naturally feel more inclined to work on.
For the majority of people, trauma is approached first. Many people also find that addiction is a direct result of trauma.
Trauma is usually an experience that has occurred due to things out of your control. It might be linked to a person or an event.
Addiction is a multi-faceted disease. Although there are many reasons outside of a person’s control that has led to an addiction, the act of going to and taking the substance is done by the person. Therefore, some people feel they still have some level of control over the act.
If you don’t have any issues related to trauma, think of other areas in your life that you want to work on. These could be:
It’s really up to you to decide which area you’d like to work on first, in order to support your recovery from drugs and alcohol as well as trauma.
People in active addiction are very motivated to get hold of drugs and alcohol. Much of the time, nothing and no one will get in the way.
Speech and behaviours often change to make substance acquisition easier.
Regular substance abuse takes a lot of work. Especially where people meet resistance from those who care about them.
If you’re living with an addiction, whether active or not, you have the evidence right there that you can be highly motivated.
Being highly motivated when channelled in a healthy direction is a really great thing. Entering recovery is a time to redirect all that energy and motivation away from the illness and towards the healing journey.
It’s actually quite common for abstinent people to become highly driven in other areas once they quit the substance. Some become keen runners, or really good in a particular hobby.
There are many famous people who, once achieving sobriety, went on to become world-renowned in their fields.
Start by thinking about those things you want to work on. You might write a list. It could be linked to any area of your life.
Focus on things you want that aren’t related to addiction.
Maybe you want to learn to play an instrument, see some of the world, save money, or try a different career path.
Whatever you want to do, choose one of the goals you’ve just listed above as your aim.
Next, write down why reducing or quitting alcohol and drugs will help you to achieve this aim.
Next, think about how much energy you’re willing to put into achieving your aim. It can be helpful to choose a number between 1-10 (10 meaning highly motivated) to demonstrate this.
Finally, it’s good to write down how working on this healthy aim will support you in reducing or quitting substance use.
It could be that you start running or practising a free online yoga class at the time of day that you would usually have a drink, a line or a hit.
This could help to manage cravings, improve your health and help to grow your self-confidence, making your complete recovery all the more likely.
Ultimately, the energy you have can be directed either towards using substances or towards recovery. Whatever you choose to do with that energy, there will be challenges.
Recovery, however, has the potential to offer back your life, your health, improved personal relationships and a brighter future.
Motivation is always there whether you have a little or a lot, and whether you choose to direct it towards healthy goals or not. By identifying goals that you really want that aren’t related to the addiction, you can improve your chances of successful recovery.
If you’d like support on how to improve your motivation for recovery, there are rehabilitation services you can access that have plenty of treatment options to suit your needs.
Contact the Rehab 4 Addiction team to find out more.
Boris is our editor-in-chief at Rehab 4 Addiction. Boris is an addiction expert with more than 20 years in the field. His expertise covers a broad of topics relating to addiction, rehab and recovery. Boris is an addiction therapist and assists in the alcohol detox and rehab process. Boris has been featured on a variety of websites, including the BBC, Verywell Mind and Healthline. You can connect with Boris online at LinkedIn or X.com.
