Cravings are a part of the recovery process and not anything to feel guilty about. You are not failing, just because you feel an urge to use again, whether you’ve been sober for an hour, a year, or a decade. Part of sustaining long-term recovery is learning how to manage the inevitable cravings you will experience without relapsing. One way to do this is through urge surfing. At Safe Harbor Recovery Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, we teach a variety of ways for our clients to handle relapse triggers, including cravings.
What Is an Urge?
Urges are the impulses we have to do something. Some urges are more powerful than others. The urge to use can be very strong for people who have experienced addiction. People in recovery often have urges to revert to old habits, such as drinking or using substances. This most often happens in the first year of sobriety. Urges to use, also sometimes called cravings, may also come with physical sensations, including tension in the shoulders, headaches, or abdominal discomfort. The good news is that urges typically last less than 30 minutes if you don’t feed into them, so if you can get through them, they eventually subside like a receding tide.
What Is Urge Surfing?
Urge surfing is a form of self-empowerment that involves “riding out” a craving like a surfer does a wave in the ocean:
- Acknowledging the thoughts and sensations you are experiencing, rather than ignoring them or avoiding them
- Avoiding any judgment of your thoughts, feelings, or sensations associated with the urge
- Not acting upon the craving
- Recognizing that this urge is just part of the healing process that your body is undergoing as you learn to live without substances
- Allowing the urge to pass
How to Surf Your Urges
When you find a craving starting:
- Find somewhere comfortable and quiet to sit and reflect
- Consider what you are feeling
- Take note of what parts of your body are impacted
- Observe the physical reactions you have when you think about your cravings
- Describe your sensations to yourself in a calm, factual manner
- Try to relax and take slow, deep breaths
- Repeat from the top several times, until you start to feel more at ease
Over time, you can also think about how you feel when you are able to navigate an urge without relapsing and how you will feel when you get through this urge without giving in to the craving. Remind yourself how giving in to an urge makes the urge stronger and that not giving in gradually kills it. Remember that the urge is all that remains of your relationship with that substance
What If Urge Surfing Doesn’t Work
Most people get better at urge surfing with practice, but there are times when a craving hits really strongly, and urge surfing doesn’t make the urge to use go away. Your brain has been programmed to see substance use as a way to make itself feel good, and you’re still rewiring it to find other ways to make the chemicals that you need to feel good. If surfing isn’t enough to do that, you can try other strategies, such as:
- Calling a sober friend or sponsor
- Contacting your therapist
- Going to a recovery meeting
- Distract yourself with something else, like reading, watching a show, going for a walk, or listening to some music
- Get away from whatever triggered the craving
- Find something fun or beneficial to do
Other Ways to Fortify Your Recovery
Whether or not you are feeling an urge today, you will improve your odds of fighting off cravings if you take good care of yourself. This means:
- Working out regularly
- Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet
- Prioritizing sleep
- Promptly addressing physical and mental health concerns
- Building a strong support system
- Engaging in activities that make your life meaningful
- Staying involved in the recovery community
At Safe Harbor Recovery Center, we help our patients to develop the tools they need to build a long-term recovery plan and get back on track if they do relapse. Before our clients leave treatment, we equip them with a plan they can use and modify, as they learn more about their unique recovery journey. We also offer medication-assisted treatment, which can help reduce cravings for clients who have a history of alcohol or opioid use.