When you seek treatment for addiction or mental health concerns, you’ll find that a lot of your schedule revolves around different goals. Long after you have completed your care, you’ll still need to utilize that particular tool in order to increase your chances of successful treatment. Setting goals for long-term recovery can help you maintain your sobriety.
Setting Goals for Long-Term Recovery
When you set goals for your long-term recovery, it’s important that they meet certain requirements, namely that they conform to the SMART goal method:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-Bound
Your goals need to be specific. If you simply say that you want to remain sober, that’s a very broad goal and it should be subsequently broken down into more specific items.
Your goals need to be something you can measure so that you have the opportunity to determine when you’ve reached that goal. Simply saying you want to be sober doesn’t have any measurable aspects to it, but saying you want to remain sober at the company Christmas party this year is much more measurable because you’ll be able to clearly determine whether or not you achieved it.
Of course, your goals need to be achievable. If you are currently in the midst of a treatment program, being at a company Christmas party surrounded by alcohol may not yet be within your capacity and could be very triggering. In this case, you might want to change your goals and move them to the next year.
The goal also has to be relevant to where you are currently. Those who are in recovery can find relevant goals that focus on sobriety.
Finally, the goal needs to be something that is time-bound, which means it has a deadline. Simply saying you want to remain sober doesn’t have a deadline, which not only makes it difficult to measure but makes it far from being time-bound.
Saying that you want to get through the company Christmas party, by comparison, is time-bound because the time is a single Christmas party, which is generally a few hours.
Updating Goals
The goals you set are not one-time decisions. As you start setting goals for long-term recovery, you’ll need to focus on things that relate to various circumstances like:
- Sobriety
- Socialization
- Relationships
- Housing
- Food
- Careers
- Education
- Health
Your goals will change from time to time, not just as you achieve them but also as you transition into new areas of life or face new trials.
If you have completed your Christmas party goals, your new goals for long-term recovery might focus on changing your main group of friends to people who socialize without alcohol and incorporate a lot of outdoor activity instead of just eating and drinking.
Reviewing Your Goals for Long-Term Recovery
One of the things you’ll learn in recovery is that it’s more supportive for you to take time to regularly review the goals you have set and achieved.
Simple measures like journaling can help you keep track of the things you have achieved along the way. This gives you continual motivation for subsequent goals. Moreover, it can help you reflect on the overall growth you have made at regular intervals or when things are frustrating and difficult, and you feel like you may never achieve goals again.
Setting Long-Term Goals for Recovery with Multi Concept Recovery
At Multi Concept Recovery, we provide customized approaches to addiction treatment and mental health treatment, where you are supported not just during your stay with us but long after. We worked hard to craft a unique modality that goes beyond typical treatment models and encompasses emotional intelligence and mindfulness.
Setting goals for long-term recovery is a key aspect of remaining mindful, focusing on not just where you are currently but where you want to go, and applying emotional intelligence to daily decisions can help you meet your goals and stay on the right path.
We work hard to ensure you know the importance of goals for long term recovery, what goals might work where you are in your recovery, and how to reward yourself along the way for making and meeting new ones.
Overall, investing in your long-term success begins and ends with goal setting. As you transition through your recovery you’ll find that goals will be met, altered, and replaced. By always setting goals that are achievable and time sensitive, you’ll be able to monitor your progress, keep track of the things you have achieved for those moments of frustration, and keep your momentum forward.
Call us today at 866-569-7156 to verify your insurance and get started with recovery.
