During active addiction, It’s often hard to stick to your values. Things like intimacy, honesty, relationships, supporting others, being creative, and finding meaning often get tossed aside when drugs or alcohol are most important. Sometimes we spend so much time using or recovering from substances that even figuring out what our values are gets sidetracked.
Identifying Your Values
Values are what you find most important in life, so you can’t personalize your recovery without knowing what they are. SMART Recovery—a support group for people with addiction—has a “values clarification” worksheet.[1] It asks you to pick what resonates with you from a list of core values, and then choose your top three to five. Once you figure out what most matters to you, you can match that up with relevant goals. Values and life goals are inextricably connected.
Journaling is a great way to clarify your values. You can give yourself prompts like “If I have ______ in five years, I’ll be more fulfilled,” and fill that blank with several of the core values listed in the SMART Recovery worksheet. You could ask yourself which of the values you chose feels the most absent from your life. Then you might journal about how you can work towards it.
For instance, if one of your values is “making a contribution to the world,” you might think of ways to be of service. You could research local volunteer opportunities. You might even combine it with another of your values—say, “learning and knowing a lot”—and see if there’s a volunteer experience that has a lot to teach you.
Recovery Brings You Closer to Your Values
Being sober may connect you to values you had earlier in life, before drugs and alcohol became a priority. For instance, before I started drinking or using drugs, reading and learning were important parts of my life.
I lost track of that for more than a decade because drinking and using drugs—and all the things that came along with them—were more important. But my interest in it came back almost immediately after getting sober, starting with learning about addiction and recovery and expanding from there.
Perhaps one of your values is community, but your relationships became strained during active addiction. Support systems are a big part of sobriety; recovery is a wonderful opportunity to build community.
Addiction impacts the reward system and dopamine levels, which are part of what motivates and drives us. When our brains aren’t hijacked by drugs or alcohol, values can be what motivate and drive us.
If you are struggling with a substance use or mental health disorder, there is help and hope. TruHealing Centers offers high-quality treatment for addiction and mental health disorders in facilities across the country. Our staff—many of whom are in recovery themselves—will help you recognize and work towards your values. Call an admissions specialist at 410-593-0005.
[1] https://www.smartrecovery.org/smart-recovery-toolbox/values-and-goals-clarification