While building a support network that consists of friends, family, and peers is essential in recovery, it is also just as important to learn self-sufficiency. It is recommended and necessary to have a strong support system at the beginning of your recovery. However, as your treatment progresses, you will need to have the tools and skills developed to become self-sufficient.

What Does Self-Sufficiency Look Like?

According to “The Role of Self-Efficacy in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorder”, self-sufficiency is the belief that one can carry out the actions required to bring about the desired result.

Studies have indicated that self-sufficiency is an important predictor of the outcome of treatment effects. Self-efficacy was also discovered to be a powerful predictor of coping behavior use, performance level, and tenacity in the face of challenging issues.

According to this research, people who possess the necessary skills and effective coping mechanisms are more likely to put forth the necessary effort to successfully avoid situations when drinking or using drugs is at high risk. In the event of a slip, those with high levels of self-efficacy are more likely to view the slip as a brief setback and regain control, whereas individuals with low levels of self-efficacy are more likely to continue to a full-blown relapse.

Practicing Self-Sufficiency

Practicing self-sufficiency requires independence. While support is an important aspect of recovery, learning to be independent is necessary. Ultimately, your recovery is part of your path, and you can’t rely on others to do the work for you.

When you learn to be self-reliant, you will no longer be easy to persuade and have a higher chance of maintaining sobriety. Even if the people you surround yourself with help influence you in a positive way, there will not always be someone available when you are feeling most vulnerable.

How Self-Sufficiency Helps You Grow

Self-reliance is crucial for the following reasons:

• Helps you solve problems and make decisions by yourself
• Allows you to find happiness within yourself without the need for other people’s approval
• Self-reliance involves self-acceptance, self-knowledge, and self-compassion
• Gives you direction

How to Develop Self-Sufficiency

Health counselor Mandy Kloppers offers the following self-reliance tips in an article from Positive Psychology:

Accept Yourself

Learning to appreciate your characteristics is a significant part of accepting yourself. This includes learning about your strengths and achievements. While everyone has weaknesses, how you deal with them can make all the difference. Rather than putting yourself down for the characteristics you lack, you can accept your flaws and work on them.

Build Your Inner Confidence

It is easy to gain confidence by receiving compliments, praise, and reassurance from others. However, depending on these aspects can leave you feeling empty and insecure without them. This is why inner confidence is key.

Make Your Own Decisions

Once we learn to accept ourselves, we can find security in our decisions. Having confidence in our own capabilities can help us find security within.

Recognize and Manage Dependence

Self-knowledge is recognizing when you typically rely on others. We may be aware that there are moments when we rely on others, but there are also instances when doing so prevents us from developing our own confidence. Setting objectives and completing them in your own way increases your confidence in your judgment as well as your sense of success and fulfillment.

More Ways to Develop Self-Reliance

According to Ralph Waldon Emmerson, an American philosopher, the following are other ways to develop self-sufficiency:

Have Your Own Values

The values of society might not be compatible with our own ingrained beliefs. We may not always be aware of this because it may be happening at a very subconscious level. This can cause us to find it challenging to fit in if society has ideals that don’t align with our own.

Avoid Relying on Objects to Feel Happiness

There are potential negative influences on material items. While we live in a materialistic world, it is important not to depend on external objects because they are temporary and do not provide true happiness.

Decide Who You Want to Be and How You Want to Get There

Identifying our values can help us understand what makes us happy and how we would like to live our lives. Once we understand our values, we can use our judgment to figure out how we want to get there.

Learning About Self-Sufficiency in Treatment

At Spero Recovery Center, we provide ways in which individuals can develop self-sufficiency skills during treatment. We help clients experience an authentic recovery by providing an environment designed for people who are self-reliant and want to recover. There are no clients at Spero that are forced to be there. Additionally, we provide a unique form of therapy by allowing individuals to play a role in their recovery plan without consequences.

Self-sufficiency in recovery begins by initiating treatment because you desire a better life for yourself, free from active addiction. While recovery requires support, self-sufficiency skills are necessary to achieve long-term recovery. Treatment centers like Spero give individuals the opportunity to learn self-sufficiency skills through continued practice and experiential therapy. Learning to accept yourself will give you the confidence to find security in your decisions and can increase your chances of maintaining your sobriety. It is also vital to understand your own values and follow them accordingly, no matter what the rest of society is doing. Once you learn to understand your own values, you can trust your judgment to move forward in your recovery. For more information, call (303) 351-7888.