Chart Your Recovery Goals: Mapping Your Journey

One of the best things about your recovery from addiction is that it is uniquely your experience. You determine how you would like to manage addiction issues and what therapies and treatments will best serve your ability to remain relapse-free. You decide where you would like to focus your time and energy in life and the things you would like to accomplish.

Formerly, your sole purpose throughout the day was getting drugs or alcohol and staying high. In recovery, your sole purpose is whatever you want it to be.

The sheer expanse of options in recovery is understandably intimidating after such a limited experience in addiction. How do you know where best to invest your energy when there are so many potential paths to travel?

When it comes to getting anywhere – whether it is physical or metaphorical travel – the necessary first step is to clearly define your goals. After that, you just need to chart a course to get from where you stand today to where you want to be tomorrow and every tomorrow after that. Here is how you begin.

Decide Where You Want to Go

If you do not know where you would like to go, you cannot create a map to get there. Consider where you would like to be in your life, the greatest thing that you can imagine for yourself, and let yourself dream. Think about your hoped-for career, where you would like to live, how you would like to spend your days, and the kind of schedule you would like to keep. Get detailed; the more detailed you are, the more accurate your roadmap will be. Don’t forget to include:

Timeline notation: Is your personal goal accomplishable in one year, five years, 10 years, or some other increment?

Visionary statement: What is the driving purpose of your goal? To develop a certain career? To feel a certain way as you go through the day? To accomplish a certain skill, task, or achievement? Write it out.

The values that will inform your path: Are integrity and honesty your foremost concerns? Are you concerned with repairing certain parts of your life, serving other people, or stabilizing in a new context (e.g., home, job, friends, etc.)? Write these out as well and compare them to your vision. If they do not mesh, consider what changes must be made so they line up.

Goals: In almost every case, no matter how simple your vision for yourself, there will be multiple goals that will help you achieve that vision. For example, if your vision is to get hired at a nearby business, then your first goal may be to learn how to create a dynamic resume; the second goal might be to build that attention-grabbing resume; and your third goal might be to figure out who runs the department you would like to work in or who does the hiring and connect with that person. Your fourth goal may be to prepare for a job interview (e.g., learning more about the company’s history and current goals and projects, setting up the date and time for the interview, selecting the outfit that gives the strongest impression, practicing interview questions and answers, etc.). Write each one out in chronological order.

Not sure what you want to do? Working with a life coach can help. Your life coach can help you look at your strengths and areas of challenge, and come up with some opportunities that have potential. Then, your coach can help you explore them, so you can pinpoint the ones that most speak to you.

Strategies: Next, you will need to determine how best to achieve each one of these goals and write that out as well. For example, if you are working to land the job of your dreams, you might list things like learning specific skills, taking a set of classes, or getting certified. If you are unsure of what strategies will help you to accomplish your goals, then that is the first step: researching how one creates the outcome you are seeking.

Potential challenges: It is also a good idea to make a list of the things that may become obstacles along the way and brainstorm how you will address those issues should they arise. These can be general – you may not know what challenges could arise until you get there – but if you have an overall plan in place for dealing with obstacles, the plan can be adapted, and obstacles will be easier to overcome.

Create the Map

Now that you have worked out all the details of your goals and plans, you are ready to make your map. Begin with the goal you would like to achieve and, working your way backward, write out each step until you are at the beginning: where you are today.

Tips

As you work to create a map to your goals in recovery, remember:

• Patience is key. Nothing happens overnight. Give yourself permission to backtrack, fall behind, take a break, and become focused on other things periodically.
• Finding support is helpful. Let other people you trust know what you are working toward. Their support is invaluable.
• Find a mentor. Connect with a person or people who are where you want to be, and talk to them about their journeys, learning from their mistakes as well as their successes.
• Stay flexible. Creating a map to your personal and recovery goals is a great way to get going, but it’s not necessarily the only route that will work. If unexpected issues arise, be open to exploring other opportunities and make changes as needed to get where you want to go.