You have successfully gone through the recovery period of your rehabilitation program and you are now free to leave the facility. However, a few weeks outside the rehab center you face the uphill task of having to resist the temptation to fall back into the old habit. If this is happening to you, there are some things you can do to stay sober.

Change the friends you have

Chances are high that you became an addict because of the people you have around you. If you find out that one of them is still making you crave an old habit such as drug use, it is never too much of a task to ditch them for your own good.

Avoid old memories

That bar you had your first puff of marijuana? Or that balcony at college where you used cocaine for the first time? Both of these are memories that will haunt you and remind you of the ‘good old days.’ If you must, move your house to a new location for a fresh look at life.

Go to a sober living home

Sober living homes are occupied by people who are recovering from substance abuse. They are set up with certain requirements geared towards making sure that one does not get the chance to relapse at all. They require the occupants to pay rent and meet other obligations at all times to keep everyone in check.

Have a plan to keep off drugs

To achieve this, one can be a member of a group such as Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous that will help you on your path to total recovery and, even better, avoiding a relapse. Whenever the cravings for drugs come back (and they will), you can always look to your plan to stay sober and tackle life as it comes.

Keep the rehab close by

Being discharged from a rehab center should not mean that you cut ties with the facility. Rather, you should consider an occasional refresher course with your former rehab center to keep yourself in check. You can even volunteer at the center to help others as you help yourself on the recovery journey.

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justify;”>Let your employer be aware of your disease

If you let your employer know about your addiction, chances are that you will be helped with your case to better deal with it. Do not be afraid of a verbal lashing since it is worse than the employer finding out you are absconding duty while nursing a drug addiction. Good companies always have a plan for such cases as yours.

Keep taking your medication

Once you leave the rehab center, you will be given some medications to take to keep you off the drugs you were addicted to. Always make sure you take this medication in the dosages given by the health practitioner. Make sure you do not skip any of the given days. These medicines are the key to avoiding a relapse since they will keep the cravings under check until you can willfully take care of that yourself.

It is always a victory when one gets out of a rehab program. In fact, it is a new chapter for most people who wished to live a full life free from drugs and other substances.

Author Bio: Rana Tarakji is an entrepreneur and a contributing writer at Stylerail, a lifestyle blog, as well as Sataco, an electro mechanical company in Beirut.