Managing your cravings and resisting temptation during social outings is a formulated and wise self-control strategy. When you plan ahead, you are more inclined to understand your triggers. Your focus on a healthy lifestyle can be an effective guide when resisting temptations. However, there are times when the temptations or cravings become challenging, especially when you are in a social situation.
Your brain is wired to act impulsively to acquire things you like or want. Many people are inclined to choose an immediate reward because they don’t like being patient.
For example, when you walk by a bakery, the slight scent of the baked goods may influence your brain to react impulsively. This impulse leads to a heightened temptation of getting the quick fix instead of the delayed reward of a healthier body. The same goes for the recovery process.
When social situations occur that remind you of acquiring or using substances, your brain is triggered to want that instant reward now, instead of delaying for the later reward of a healthier lifestyle. This leads to temptations and potential relapse.
However, if your brain can be trained to act impulsively, it can also get trained to wait. Social outings are great to help improve your personal life and motivate you to achieve your goals. However, they are also tests that may trigger temptations, leading to a downfall.
Training your brain to avoid temptation is necessary to improve your personal life and succeed in your long-term sobriety goals. There are multiple ways you can resist temptations in social outings and achieve social success. If you can change the way you think about the temptation and train your brain to react to resist it, you can avoid the temptation altogether.
As you learned in treatment, your goal is to become healthier and live a fruitful, focused life. When you use the techniques and skills from recovery, your brain is more inclined to remember your future goals. It takes time and dedication to avoid the instant gratification of old habits.
One of the best ways to resist temptation is to repeatedly make positive decisions to satisfy your cravings or desires that contribute to achieving your future goals. The results can be significant and life-altering. Essentially you are doing an intervention on your brain when temptation arises.
If you train yourself through practice and meditation, you can adapt the mindset of waiting for your future goals to achieve gratification. This is important through recovery because your ultimate goal is to stay healthy and substance-free.
There are times during social outings that trigger hard to resist temptations in the current moment. However, when you are face-to-face with the temptations during the social outings, remember your training and act accordingly. Below are a few ways to resist temptations during social outings that will keep you on the right path of recovery.
1. Distractions
When your brain triggers temptations, you can avoid them with distractions. If you’re at a social outing and you are tempted, you can start to restructure your brain through conversations, or keeping your hands occupied on a glass of water.
2. Practice and Plan Ahead
Your change in life with recovery comes with dedicating yourself to a commitment to sticking to goals and plans. When you choose to practice different scenarios with support groups or with yourself, you can see how you’ll react if a trigger or temptation occurs. This helps with hindsight and future planning of social outings.
3. Choosing the Right Social Outings
Not all temptations can be fully avoided during social outings. However, you are the one who can choose the correct social outings that all benefit you and your goals. If you feel that a social outing may have substances or temptations, choose to avoid that outing and find something more beneficial to your life goals. One great way is to connect with others in the recovery process or create social outings to avoid ones that may trigger temptations.
Along with the various methods to resist temptations and cravings during social outings, you must remember to focus on not feeling resentful. Temptations and triggers cause your brain to desire, even if the benefits are negative for your long-term goals. When you put a strategy in motion to think positively and trigger your brain to react productively, you can eliminate negative reactions and make wiser decisions.
The tactics used to resist temptations during certain social outings can augment your recovery process. Practicing with your support groups and peers who are going through the recovery process is a smart way to prevent temptation. That practice teaches you how to recognize the situation before temptation arises and reconstruct your logical thinking to react positively. Staying addiction-free and maintaining your healthy lifestyle is a choice that requires avoiding temptations and resisting cravings through any event, including social outings. However, if you struggle with temptations or cravings, you can always talk to a therapist or your support group at NorthStar Transitions. We are here to help you and encourage you through your recovery process. We want to help you succeed in reaching your long-term goals of changing bad habits and resisting temptation. If you need additional assistance or more help to get you through certain situations, reach out to NorthStar Transitions at (303) 558-6400.
