When you are in the grips of a substance use disorder, it can feel like you have lost control of your own story. Everything you knew about yourself and your hopes and goals is overwhelmed by your urge to keep using drugs or alcohol. We want to encourage you to take back your own story—and to do that we want to start with what might seem like an odd question:
Are you a Swiftie—a fan of superstar Taylor Swift?
Whether you adore, dislike, or feel indifferent toward Swift and her music, you can hardly avoid her presence in popular culture. From her blockbuster Eras Tour to her attendance at NFL games in support of her boyfriend to her many, many awards and chart-topping songs and albums, Swift is something rare in today’s fragmented cultural landscape. Nearly everyone, everywhere, in every demographic knows who she is.
Among the things you may know about her is that she was re-recording her early records. She was doing so because the original master recordings of those first six albums were controlled by a controversial record producer who then sold them to a private equity firm. Swift, understandably, wanted to own her own work—and so she launched the ‘Taylor’s Version’ project to make sure she does. And while she just announced that she now owns her masters, her work on those six albums is still inspirational and shows her determined spirit.
We would like to suggest that getting treatment for a substance use disorder is an endeavor much like Swift’s re-recording project. When you get the help you need, you can reclaim something that was once yours but was lost to drugs or alcohol. That something is the control of your own life.
First, You Have to Do the Work
It might have been easy for Swift to simply give up and accept the fact that she had lost control of her first six albums. Instead, she decided to do the hard work of recreating—and even improving—those early records.
That, of course, is no small endeavor. It also is not something she could do entirely on her own. Swift had to do a deep dive into her own catalogue of songs so that she could recreate them. And that recreation required assembling a team of musicians who would support Swift as she went through the process of recording song after song.
When it comes to dealing with a substance use disorder, it might seem easiest to just give up and accept the fact that your life is now defined by drugs or alcohol. But the better option is to decide to do the hard work necessary to get free of substances.
That, of course, is no small endeavor. It is also something that is incredibly difficult to do on your own. When you try to give up drugs or alcohol, you are likely to experience a range of withdrawal symptoms—including intense cravings for the substance you have been using. Those symptoms can send you scurrying back to the situation you are trying to overcome. In order to move forward, you need the help of others—including a team of empathetic professionals who can help you do the hard work you need to do.
Reintroducing Yourself to the Wider World
As we noted, Taylor’s version of each record in her early catalog is a largely faithful recreation of the originals. But she has also made some improvements. First and foremost, she’s simply a better singer than she was when she was younger. In the songs themselves, she has changed the occasional lyric for one reason or another, made slightly different musical choices, and released tons of material that never made it onto the original records.
When your treatment comes to an end, you will start reintroducing yourself to the people in your life. In many ways, you will be just like the person you were before drugs or alcohol got their hooks in you. But in other ways, there are likely to be subtle changes for the better. First and foremost, you will simply avoid situations and people who might tempt you back toward your problematic past with substances. You will likely have made other subtle (or not so subtle) lifestyle changes that support your ongoing recovery—including, for example, a commitment to healthy eating, regular exercise, and restful sleep. And you will introduce wholly new activities to your life, including regular attendance at 12-Step or other recovery program meetings.
That is to say that after treatment for a substance use disorder, you will be familiar but also changed—just like Swift’s new versions of her original records. And you will have reclaimed something of inestimable value: control of your own life.
We Are Ready to Help You Right Now
When you are struggling with drugs or alcohol, the best time to get help is always right now. If you wait, things will inevitably get worse in so many areas of your life.
Wooded Glen Recovery Center, located in Henryville, Indiana, is consistently recognized as one of the country’s top substance use disorder treatment facilities. We can help you reclaim your own story—a story free of drugs or alcohol—so that you can build the life and legacy you will be proud of.