6 Ways You Can Change Your Environment To Help Your Recovery

From Adi Jaffe Ph.D.@ Psychology Today: The purpose of this article is to help you drill down and identify triggers for your addiction or be able to better recognize the role of environmental influences in a loved one’s struggles.

Some people may feel that the downside to understanding these ‘risk factors’ is people may be left feeling hopeless. Perhaps you feel like you have no hope because of where you live, or how you were brought up or who you hang out with. I want to assure you that this is simply not true.

Knowledge is power. And when you understand yourself and your triggers and your environment you can make informed decisions. You can make choices that lead to better quality of life, rather than succumbing to habit.

You can make small changes to your environment so they become protective factors for your addiction rather than risk factors.

1. Family Triggers

To combat triggers around family dynamics and influences, psychotherapy can be helpful. It allows you to not only understand your past and how this has influenced your world view and your capacity to cope with stress, but also accept and find ways to break those habits. Knowledge and acceptance (two major tenants of IGNTD Recovery) allow you to begin to make choices in life that are considered and thoughtful rather than simply a result of habit.

TIP – If you have a particularly stressful family event coming up. it may be helpful to gain support from a friend, like a wingman/wingwoman ahead of the event. Lay out the particular relationships and interactions that might be triggering and ask for help in managing these AHEAD of the event. You’ll not only be better prepared when the situation arises, but you’ll have someone to help rescue you if you need it.

2. Friends

Some people believe that if your friends abuse alcohol or drugs then you must avoid them at all costs. But I don’t believe you have to stay away from all of these relationships, although initially it can be useful to avoid the specific environments where your friends engage in the kind of behavior you want to avoid.

Tip – Make it a habit to avoid particular hangout at particular times when you expected that the triggers and temptation will be increased. In my own history, when I was fully sober (and to this day to a large extent), I would leave parties at 11pm or midnight, right around the time that some of my friends began frequenting the restroom every 30 minutes for their cocaine use and other recreational activities. Interestingly, when you don’t avoid these relationships but rather see them for what they are, you may discover that you want to let some of them go anyway. But the act of choice here becomes crucial.

3. Social Media

Avoiding social media is probably unrealistic also. But, you can make a rule that you only access social media briefly or within specific time frames. You can set a timer for five minutes and once the timer is up then you get off. This can stop you falling down that rabbit hole of not only losing time on social media, but also feeling bad about yourself. I’ll go one step further and recommend you only access social media when you’re feeling okay about yourself. If you’re having a bad day, pick up a phone and call a friend instead.

Tip – I have made it a habit to regularly unfollow or hide content when I recognize that it makes me feel “less-than” or unworthy or otherwise plays on my insecurities. Make sure that the content you allow yourself to consume makes you feel strong, inspired, motivated and good. In this way social media can be a great asset.

4. Other Media

If you find video games, movies or television shows (or any other form of media) triggers your addiction, then pay close attention to what kind of media it is, how it makes you feel and the thoughts they provoke. You may choose to avoid these triggers for a while in order to keep you on track.

Tip – If you want to truly combat their influence, see if you can expose yourself to some (be careful and deliberate with your choices here) of the content in order to desensitize your triggering. For instance, I couldn’t watch Breaking Bad for years because it mirrored my own meth use and selling. But after a few years I decided to purposefully watch the show in order to remove the fear surrounding the triggering. Within a few episodes I was essentially not at all triggered by it. What are you avoiding that you can use to your advantage in this way?

5. Community

The community that you live in plays a big part in the likelihood of abusing drugs. The most important first step here is the careful assessment and consideration of these norms. Many of us simply gloss over them, playing down their importance in forming our own habits and views on life.

Tip – If you find your cultural norms play a significant role in your triggering, there are a few things that might help – Speaking openly with someone who is like-minded and who cares about you could help remove the shame and stigma around the topic. I often find that a simple conversation along the lines of “I feel really uncomfortable when we…” can be incredibly powerful as long as the other party is empathetic and non-judgmental. After such an open conversation, you can explore the beliefs set up by your cultural norms more deeply through ongoing discussion, psychotherapy, etc. When it comes to specific events and gatherings, your ally can become an incredibly powerful assistant through a similar method to that discussed in #1 above.

6. Learned Environments

In the case of learned environments and physical settings, it’s hard to over-estimate their impact. Just for reference, it’s been shown that people can actually drink/use more in their preferred settings because their body is better prepared for the consumption and more able to “fight” it with opposing biological reactions. Think of the last time you drank/used at your favorite location (bar, bedroom, whatever) and think whether you’re able to consume more there yourself?

Tip – Literally changing the actual physical environment can make an incredible difference here. Your brain associated the location, color and smell with the activation of expected behavior. If it’s your bedroom where you drink, use, or act out, then move around your bed and furniture to make it not only look different, but feel different. Color the walls differently, put up some new art and completely alter the environment. It’s the quickest way to create a separation between habit and current behavior in that space.

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