The Best Quotes to Support a Loved One In Addiction Recovery
When your loved one is going through addiction recovery, you want to do what you can to support them. The problem for many people is that they don’t truly understand what they are going through. What should you think about loving an addict? Quotes can give you a great place to start.
Addiction-related quotes range from offering support and encouragement to your loved one to helping lift you up as an encouraging friend or family member. They offer you a way to connect and better understand what they are going through.
South Shores Detox is here when your loved one is ready to enter addiction recovery. We ensure that they have all the tools they need to get sober and transition to a long-term program. Keep reading to find our collection of addiction recovery and ‘loving an addict’ quotes to support everyone involved.
Addiction Recovery Quotes to Inspire a Loved One Struggling
Oftentimes, the recovery process for substance use disorder is long and grueling. Your loved one may take three steps forward just to take two steps back a few weeks later.
Substance abuse isn’t as linear to heal from as many individuals wish that it was. These addiction quotes will help you find hope for the journey.
Recovery is about progression, not perfection. – Marty Mann
No matter where your loved one is on their recovery journey, the goal should never be to attain absolute perfection. It’s unrealistic to expect that they may never touch a drink again (it is a day at a time for us all in reality) so celebrate the small win. Note every time they turn away from tempting situations and applaud them for their bravery.
Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. -C.S. Lewis
You know that your loved one has something extraordinary waiting for them on the other side of their addiction. With sustained recovery, they can finally focus on their future instead of their need for drugs or alcohol. Let them surprise you with what they can achieve after their treatment programs.
Don’t let the past steal your present. -Terri Guillemets
When you love an alcohol or drug addict, it can be tempting to hold their mistakes against them. After all, they likely did some unthinkable things while in the throes of active addiction. But don’t let their past keep you from experiencing a brighter future with them. Get family therapy and start to work through it. Recovery requires the whole family.
Addiction is a family disease because one person uses, but the whole family gets sick. -Toni Sorenson
The truth is that addiction impacts every family member. Recovery programs should focus on the health of the entire family unit because it will require the efforts of all to create sustained recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. Get the support you need so that every part of the family can be healthy.
When you choose life, your family will be here to rebuild your shattered life and help you rebuild your dreams. -Patricia Daly
Remember that your loved one may eventually decide to choose life for themselves. They can get help for their mental health issues, physical health, and alcohol or drug abuse problems. Where will you be when that time comes? Will you be there to help them rebuild and start chasing after their dreams?
When drinking, they were strangers. Sometimes, they were so inaccessible that it seemed that a great wall had been built around them. -Alcoholics Anonymous
This is a great reminder of what it’s like when your loved one is mired in substance abuse. You can’t get to them until they decide they want recovery for good. That’s the only thing that can knock down the walls they have built around their heart and life.
Given love and opportunity, every child and adult can recover. -Dallin H. Oaks
Love and opportunity are powerful building blocks for a brighter future. This is a reminder that nobody is too far gone to benefit from this challenging journey. Seek professional help for you and your loved one. You both deserve it and can become stronger on the other side of your treatment.
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. -Nelson Mandela
The truth is that your family member is likely to give in to a drug or alcohol abuse problem at some point in their recovery. Relapses happen, but how you respond to them is ultimately what matters. Help them rise to the occasion, seek help, and recommit to their sobriety. You can build them up and strengthen them for the journey ahead.
Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. -J.K. Rowling
Sooner or later, your loved one will hit their absolute bottom. This is the point at which they have to decide for themselves whether they want to keep going on the path that leads to death. When they reach this pivotal moment, remember that it could lay the foundation for a bright future.
Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles, and you have to change. -Jamie Lee Curtis
All of the support groups in the world can only take you so far in addiction recovery. They will eventually have to decide for themselves that their life is totally floundering in the face of substance abuse. It’s the only way that they will see the real need for change and take action to get the help they need.
If you can quit for a day, you can quit for a lifetime. -Benjamin Alire Sáenz
There is a lot of talk in Twelve Step meetings about how you need to take it just one day at a time. If it’s possible to do it for one day, there is nothing stopping them from doing it for two days. And eventually, the days start to add up into a lifetime lived without drugs and alcohol.
Addiction is a lot like looking for love in all the wrong places. -Sinclair Lewis
How often have you tried looking for love in the wrong places? Addiction presents similar challenges and puts it in perspective for family members. Your loved one wants to be loved and to feel fully alive, but the only way they can think to do that is with drugs and alcohol. You may have to teach them where to look for meaningful change.
I used alcohol as a way to numb my pain, but the problem with numbness is that it can also dull your joy. -Demi Lovato
Substance use often starts as a misguided attempt to cope with difficult feelings or situations. The problem is that these coping mechanisms make it harder for you to really feel. It might be okay now, when things are hard, but feeling joy again will be much more challenging if you have been numb for a long time.
It’s possible to feel that sense of joy again with the assistance of an encouraging professional.
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson reminds all of us that we play a major role in determining who we are and who we want to be. As a support system and as an addict, we all have the ability to decide to be someone new. Make good decisions now to seek help for substance use or mental illness, and you may have a different outcome than you thought possible.
First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you. -F. Scott Fitzgerald
This pithy quote is all about how someone gets to the point where they need professional help for their addiction recovery at our treatment center. It starts with one drink, and the negative consequences will spiral until the drink takes over as often as allowed. Don’t let the drink win; encourage them to seek help.
Every day is a new day. No need to dwell on the past. Look straight ahead. -Saint Charlotte
When you’re dealing with a loved one who drinks or uses drugs, you have to remember that a new day is a new opportunity to try again. Don’t withhold your love and encouragement for a bad day yesterday. Just keep looking ahead and encouraging them to do the same. Looking ahead doesn’t negate personal responsibility, but it does help you both start fresh.
Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there. -Robert Downey Jr.
If you are dealing with someone who turns to alcohol and drug use to cope, that doesn’t mean you can’t hit your own lowest point. Don’t forget to prioritize self-care if you want to continue to be a safe space for your loved one. Get help for yourself from an addiction expert (we suggest our industry-leading clinicians here at South Shores) and you’ll move in the right direction.
Quotes for Mental Health to Help Break Free from Addiction
Oftentimes, someone who is struggling with addiction isn’t just dealing with drug and alcohol abuse. They may have co-occurring mental health issues that drive their substance abuse or keep them mired in abusive relationships. These quotes will help you better understand addiction and remember to treat the whole self.
You don’t have to struggle in silence. You can be un-silent. -Demi Lovato
One of the lies that mental illness tells you is that you are totally alone in your suffering. This causes many people to struggle in silence, unsure if they can ever find hope again. Get help for both you and your loved one, with both of you practicing the need to be un-silent about your needs and struggles.
The humanity we all share is more important than the mental illnesses we may not. -Elyn R. Saks
You may not know exactly what it’s like to go through addiction, but you do know that your loved one’s well-being is worth trying for recovery. They can be a better version of themselves if you remember it is more important to think of the things you have in common rather than the things you don’t.
You don’t start with courage and then face fear. You become courageous because you face your fear. -Laura Davis
It’s worth reminding you that you don’t have to have all the answers when you start walking with your loved one on a recovery journey. Understand that you will gain courage as you gain practice walking alongside them. They are worth recovery, even when finding hope feels too hard.
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. -Aristotle
You’re bound to see some dark times when you love an addict. You may not understand their pain, and you can’t ensure that a loved one stays recovered for any period of time. Every day, you need to commit to searching for the light, those positive things that inspire both of you to keep forging ahead.
What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation. -Glenn Close
Nobody needs to struggle in silence. The more we talk about the recovery journey with openness, the more likely we will remove shame and stigma. Be open with your loved one, which may give them the permission they need to be more open with you. It works both ways, and these addiction quotes may inspire you to have a frank conversation, set boundaries, and offer them the light.
Just because no one can heal or do your inner work for you doesn’t mean you can, should, or need to do it alone. -Lisa Olivera
It’s important to remind your loved one that you can’t do the work for them, but you can definitely be there to support them. Recovery isn’t just about enrolling in the right program. It’s also about the people they surround themselves with and who can encourage them on the hard days.
Get Your Loved One Inspired to Attend Treatment With Us
Addiction quotes may be just the starting point for you to encourage a loved one to seek help. South Shores Detox is available when they’re ready to take the first step toward becoming a better version of themselves. We offer a safe, comfortable space for them to detox from drugs and alcohol with a same-day admissions process.
Provide comfort with some of these quotes and give them your support as they make the hard decision to enroll in our program. Our enrollment team can answer their questions and get them into the program that’s the right fit for their substance use today.