By Maryam Malik
Many of us have tried to fight substance abuse by simply deciding not to drink alcohol or throwing away the drugs. Our lives would be much better if only we could quit that easily. But it is so hard to quit the behaviors even after knowing they are harming us.
Addiction isn’t just about the behaviors you engage in. Rather, it’s a complex disease through which the brain’s decision-making processes lead you to act against your own best interests.
By learning how to change problematic thought patterns, we can take back control of our life and overcome addiction! One of the most important steps we can take on our recovery journey is learning how to become a positive thinker.
Make a Conscious Effort to Only Think Positive Thoughts
Positive people don’t live in a magical world full of rainbows and unicorns. Bad things happen to everybody, and we all spend a large portion of our time thinking about life’s challenges.
The difference between positive and negative thinker isn’t what we think about, it’s whether we choose to ruminate over our troubles or respond productively to them. For negative thinkers, every problem in life can feel like a massive boulder cutting off their path through life. But for positive thinkers, life’s struggles become an opportunity to climb over that boulder and continue on their path. The most common types of negative thought patterns are:
- All-or-nothing thinking—Assuming that anything less than perfection is a complete failure.
- Disqualifying the positives—Focusing on the negative aspects of an experience, but fail to acknowledge that these negative aspects are frequently intermingled with positive ones.
- Negative self-labeling—Reacting to negative circumstances by making negative judgments about yourself.
- Catastrophizing—Assuming that actions will result in the worst-case scenario.
When we take a step back and look at these thought processes, we can tell they’re unhelpful and irrational ways to approach problems. If a friend expressed one of these negative thought patterns, we would probably point out the ways in which their thought process was flawed — yet, we often don’t think to step back and correct our own faulty thought patterns.
Nishan Rehab not just focuses on quitting drugs rather help patients to confront problems with positivity. While we might have to cut old friends out of our life as we recover from addiction, our recovery process shouldn’t be a lonely time in our life. It’s important to have the right kind of social support when we are undertaking a life challenge such as overcoming addiction. Making a conscious effort to spend time around positive people can help our brains develop positive thought patterns. These thought patterns help us believe we can overcome the challenges we are facing. When our brain absorbs the speech and logic patterns of positive people, we find our self-talk will become more positive as well.
When it comes to overcoming addiction, you don’t have to go it alone. The experienced addiction specialists at Nishan Rehab are here to support you towards a life free of drug or alcohol addiction. Nishan specialists will design a plan just for you that address your specific needs, concerns, challenges, goals and interests.
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