An outpatient rehab in Santa Clarita is offering advice on how to set yourself up for success with New Year’s resolutions about drug or alcohol use.

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“Because it’s a new year, there’s this longstanding tradition that we’re going to change things, and we make these resolutions,” said Bob Sharits, program director at The Way Out Recovery SCV. “But I think that the biggest thing is, we make these giant promises to ourselves, that maybe we’re setting ourselves up to not be able to keep (them).”

Instead of setting a resolution that seems like a massive undertaking, Sharits instead advises people wanting to make positive changes in their lives to “start small, start step-by-step and go in increments to obtain whatever that goal is.”

Related: Outpatient Rehab In Santa Clarita Defines Addiction, Discusses Symptoms

Sharits noted that when he first got sober, if he had told himself that he had to immediately change his entire life and stop using all substances forever, it may have been too overwhelming for him and he might have given up on his recovery before he even began.   

“I did have to change everything in my life, or I should say I got the opportunity and everything in my life changed, but it didn’t have to change all at once,” Sharits said. “It changes slowly and it changes over time, and it changes at your pace, not somebody else’s pace.”

Sharits compared recovery from substance use with running, recalling when he first decided to start long-distance running as a hobby. After a friend told him the best way to start was to sign up for a race and then train for that race, he signed up for a 50K run. 

“Then I asked, ‘How long is that anyway?’, because I don’t speak kilometer,’” Sharits recalled. “If you do the math, that’s 31 miles, and I thought, ‘Oh my God. I’m not a runner. How am I possibly going to do this?’” 

At that point, he had never run more than four to five miles at a time, but he had six months to train before the race date. 

“Rather than psych myself out and say, ‘Oh my God, I’ll never be able to do this,’ what my friend did was (he) gave me a plan, and the plan was a little bit at a time, increasing as I go,” Sharits recalled. “I committed to running on each particular day and I committed to running a little bit more each particular day, just like we do in the recovery process, where we commit to doing a little bit better today than I did yesterday.”

Over the next six months, Sharits was able to meet the smaller goals he had set for himself in his training, and as a result, he successfully achieved his ultimate goal and completed the 50K race. 

As he’s continued to train for other long-distance races over the last few years, Sharits noted that he still doesn’t place an expectation on himself to be a “superhuman, first-place runner,” but that his goal is to always finish the race, do the best he can and feel good about himself for it. 

“Just like in recovery, I shoot for the bullseye, which means I try to do the best that I possibly can, but I don’t beat myself up if I don’t get perfect,” Sharits continued. “So don’t set yourself up with these New Year’s resolutions with trying to make them bigger than you can accomplish. Let’s start small.” 

Ed. Note: This article is a KHTS Community Spotlight based on a recent radio interview with The Way Out Recovery Outpatient Rehab in Santa Clarita.

In Santa Clarita, drug issues are a major concern for many. The mission of The Way Out Recovery Outpatient Rehab in Santa Clarita is to provide high quality, effective alcohol and drug rehab outpatient services to the Santa Clarita Valley. The Santa Clarita rehab’s goal is to assist adolescents, adults and their loved ones in becoming happily and usefully whole, free from drug addiction. Those seeking alcohol and drug treatment in Santa Clarita, a drug rehab in Santa Clarita, a teen drug rehab or simply a “rehab near me” can rest assured that The Way Out Recovery SCV’s philosophy is to teach life-long coping skills and strategies to assist in improving quality of life and living happily and meaningfully without the need of destructive behaviors.

The Way Out Recovery SCV – Santa Clarita

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