Life, love, and happiness are all a part of the recovery journey you get to experience. Life is filled with environmental influences that balance your life, whether it is a pursuit of happiness in your career or a hobby you do at home. When your experience is infiltrated by outside influences, learning how to balance a routine or a self-care life in your environment can be one of the most beneficial and rewarding duties you can do for yourself.
For those who struggle with substance use disorders, finding balance is a key to success in recovery. So how can you balance a self-care routine in your environment?
Before diving into how to balance your self-care, you first must learn to manage yourself and your life around you. You cannot expect to establish a routine if you cannot handle necessary day-to-day activities. Therefore, creating a plan to manage everything will help you maximize your productivity and identify different skillsets and tips you can use to enhance your self-care routine.
Self-management is the remarkable ability to control your thoughts, actions, and feelings, all with the initiative to achieve your daily goals. Self-management helps you outline your goals in a strict and accessible fashion so you can focus on what is necessary and include self-care in your routine.
For example, a great way to focus on your self-care management is to hold yourself accountable every day. You might create a specific time in the day to execute your everyday routine and find ways to keep yourself motivated. If you write all of these things down and uphold your list, you can begin your journey with self-care and life management together.
After you have dived into a management plan for yourself, you now need to create a routine that revolves around you and your healing. Your overall well-being can include emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental aspects of your health. For example, if you are not very good at exercising regularly, include a daily walk or yoga session in your routine to keep up your physical and mental health.
Another good example is your sleep. Perhaps you find it challenging to sleep consistently. Finding new and innovative ways to influence healthier sleeping habits can help your overall well-being. Since you are creating your own plan, it is essential to recognize and attend to your needs, balancing all elements of healing and maintaining sobriety.
The point of balancing a self-care lifestyle in your environment is to attend to your needs and hold yourself accountable in your day-to-day lifestyle. This is all while also managing necessary work, education, relational, and household responsibilities.
As you know, staying sober requires constant vigilance over triggers and boundaries. If you are in the process of addiction recovery, attending to your health and well-being while keeping yourself motivated is essential. It takes just a moment of weakness or a small lapse in aftercare management to cause damage to your sobriety. Therefore, it is vital in your aftercare plans to utilize proper coping mechanisms and self-care techniques when triggers and temptation come around.
As you continue to put your skills into practice, they will be more manageable over time, and you can more easily avoid relapse. Yet, relapse is still a possibility. If you detect warning signs of relapse in yourself or experience a full-blown relapse, know that the same techniques of balance, management, and self-care that previously kept you sober can lead you back to sobriety. Use relapse as an opportunity to see where you may need more help or a stronger plan to avoid relapse.
There are times after leaving treatment when the stress may become too difficult to deal with. During moments like these, you can revisit your self-management and goal lists. You can make improvements to your routine of self-care practices and examine your aftercare plans for the best chance at sustained recovery. When that balance is not working for you or your temptation and triggers become more recurrent, you may want to consider reaching out to your support groups for more help.
Most people who go through addiction recovery will likely need extra support at some point or another. The recovery journey is established to help you promote your emotional, physical, and mental well-being. When building your resilience away from substance use starts to falter, you may need additional support. Do not be afraid to reach out for help from loved ones, support groups, or professionals when something is not working.
NorthStar Transitions is here to help you re-balance your life and create self-care in your environment. Some people may view self-care as a luxurious aspect of their daily routine; however, some self-care is necessary to keep your life balanced and your recovery progress on track. You do not need to feel overwhelmed or tired when struggling with life after treatment, as our team is here for the rest of your journey. Caring for your spirit, mind, and body takes dedication and commitment, which can be done by using techniques of self-management and self-care to achieve balance. However, it is not always an easy path to take. If you struggle with balance, NorthStar Transitions is here to help you overcome any trigger and temptation and find renewed balance in your lifestyle with the help of our caring and supportive staff. Call us if you need more support and guidance on balancing yourself and your new lifestyle at (303) 558-6400.
