3 Reasons you need to live in the Moment after Rehab

Whether you are in a 12 Step Program or any other form of addiction treatment, you will have heard one common theme. To recover you need to live in the moment. In AA and NA they call this ‘Just for Today’. In other programs they link it to mindfulness and living in the present.

But why is living in the moment so important in addiction recovery? Here are 3 reasons to live in the moment after leaving rehab.

1. It’s all you’ve got:

At the foundation of living in the moment is recognizing that it is truly all that you’ve got. One of the biggest struggles people have in recovery is the idea of being sober for the rest of their lives. That is something you won’t know you’ve achieved until the moment before you die. It is something you cannot do today, tomorrow, or a year from now.

By living in the moment, you accept that whatever happens in the future will not negate what’s happening in the present. You are living fully right now, regardless of whether your sobriety lasts forever.

2. It helps you weather the storms:

Living in the moment is not the same as living for the moment. People who talk about living for the moment are generally trying to cram as many good things into the present as possible. Living in the moment is rather about experiencing whatever is happening right now, whether or not you can change it.

Living in the moment can seem scary to people, as it may mean feeling emotions that are very painful. But it is our judgments that turn those emotions into suffering. Suffering comes from the fear of feeling that way forever, the belief that you should not be allowed to feel that way, or the urge to fix something that cannot be fixed. When you look at pain without these associations, it becomes manageable.

Living in the moment is about focusing only on the present. This way, you can experience the pain without it being amplified by the future or the past.

3. It allows you to let go of regret:

Many people who leave rehab have a sense of regret. They feel that they wasted precious years while addicted to substances. They are happy to be healthy now, but cannot stop thinking about what might have been.

Regret is powerful. It is not necessarily a bad thing. Mourning what you lost is extremely important. But dwelling on it can be counterproductive and downright harmful. It can make you feel helpless, as you have no power to change the past. It can turn your mind away from what you have fought so hard to achieve.

Living in the moment means you stop trying to change what happened in the past. You let go of it, so that it no longer has any control over you. You take ownership of all that you truly have: this moment right now.