Recovery

Change is never easy. Here are some helpful and healthy ways to cope. The world around us is everchanging and we are no different. The phrase “change is the only constant” is popular for a reason. When we’re feeling mentally tenuous or in the early stages of recovery, change can be especially difficult. Any shift in routine or daily life is hard, even if it’s a positive change. As humans, we’re usually more comfortable staying in the status quo. However, it’s important to be adaptable to change and have a toolbox of healthy, sustainable coping mechanisms for life’s constantly shifting tides. These tools will come in handy during any change -- whether it’s a small change to your daily routine, a change of home or city, a breakup, or a new recovery program.  Practicing mindfulness and healthy nonattachment is a great starting point for coping with change. To do this, simply observe the changing flows around you and note how you’re feeling. Try not to react with intense emotions or judgment. Be a curious observer. Reciting the serenity prayer can be a deeply comforting practice during times of change or turmoil. Also, it’s important to communicate your feelings and talk your way through the change with your group and therapist. Writing in a journal, taking mindful walks, exercising, and continuing your healthy habits will serve as a positive foundation during times of flux. While life is always changing for better or worse, you don't’ need to uproot your healthy habits. Examples of negative ways of coping with change include isolating, not communicating, drinking or using drugs, or discontinuing the healthy habits that you’ve tried so hard to cultivate. Continue on your own path and try o be as adaptable as possible to the changing circumstances of life. Enjoy the ride.

We all feel better when we spend time in nature. Let’s explore how the great outdoors can help our mental health and recovery journey. In our contemporary lives, we are often inundated by technology and endless parades of emails, text messages, social media, and artificial lighting. It’s easy to forget about the healing powers of nature and how we all have relatively easy access to a free mental health boost whenever we want. Whether it’s a local park in your city, the beach, the woods, or the mountains, getting back to nature is a wonderful way to reconnect with mother earth, yourself, and the world around you. Let’s discuss why getting back to nature is so vital for our mental health. Additionally, this article will explore simple ways to spend more time in nature.

Reading good books in recovery is a healthy habit and a great way to feel mentally stimulated. There are plenty of great books out there about addiction, mental health, and recovery. They range from great personal stories of hardship and triumph to more research-based books on the topics. There are also plenty of novels and stories with themes pertaining to addiction and recovery. Reading helps us gain perspective and feel more connected. Above all, it expands our minds and makes us more empathetic. Here are a few recommendations, all pertaining to addiction, mental health, and/or recovery. Additionally, if reading about these topics is triggering or not enjoyable for you, choose other novels, poetry, or memoirs that are more in line with your reading interests. There are really no rules when it comes to a reading list and each book will open you up to a new world.

During active addiction, we often forego our creative impulses and self-expressive tendencies, as our substances of choice took over our lives. The truth is, we are all creative and self-expression is a necessary and enriching part of daily life. In fact, during active addiction, we can forget our sense of self and who we truly are, let alone how to express that inner self. Well, there are myriad ways to express yourself and once you start to use your own unique voice, you’ll never want to stop. Self-expression can be defined simply as an expression of one’s feelings, thoughts, or ideas. The way in which you express yourself is up to you. The options are endless. Some positive ways to express yourself include journaling and writing, drawing, painting, dancing or other physical movements, and many other hobbies.

Walking is one of the most natural and effective ways to exercise our bodies and minds. Walking is such a fundamental activity that we often overlook the many benefits of this simple and accessible exercise. When incorporated into your daily exercise routine, walking at a brisk pace can help you stay in shape. Mixing it up with hills, hikes, and beach walks will also keep your muscles guessing and help you avoid boredom on your walks. There are also many mental health benefits of making walking part of your daily life. On our quest for complicated workouts and quick fixes, walking often gets a boring wrap. However, it’s all about our mindset and how we approach the activity. Here are some benefits of walking and ways to incorporate it into your life. Walking can keep our hearts healthy, improve sleep quality, and aid in the release of endorphins. Walking is great on rest days from heavier workouts or as a workout on its own if you’re hiking, walking hills, or walking briskly with a friend. There are also several mental health benefits of walking, which include decreased depression, clearing the mind, and boosting confidence. Going for a long walk is great way to think through a problem that you’ve been having, gain some perspective, and clear out any mental clutter that’s been plaguing you. This is where the term “walk it off” comes from. We’re able to release tension and get perspective when we hit the pavement, hiking trail, or sand.  Make walking a fun, regular part of your daily life by using it as a form of transportation when possible, walking with friends, planning hikes or beach strolls, and walking around your neighborhood in the morning. Walking can be a great meditative practice when you add mindfulness to the mix. Try going on a walk around a familiar spot while fully noticing everything in your environment, as well as your state of mind. It’s all about staying present in the moment.

A healthy nighttime routine for optimal relaxation and rest will set you up for a night of good sleep. Here are some tips. Our lives are often jampacked with obligations, meetings, jobs, transportation, and screen time. If we try to transition directly from this overstimulated mode into sleep, we’re setting ourselves up for restlessness. A nighttime routine for relaxation and rest can help us unwind, reflect on the day, and prepare our minds and bodies for sleep. Sleeping is one of the most fundamental and necessary parts of wellness and when we set ourselves up for 7-8 hours of sleep, we’re doing our minds and bodies a big favor. Ultimately, your nighttime routine has to work for you, your needs, and your schedule. You’ll probably have to spend some time experimenting with different routines that help you feel calm and relaxed. Everyone is different. No matter how you unwind, it’s important to remember that these moments of self-care are vital for your health and recovery. Before recovery, we may have used drugs or alcohol to relax at the end of the day. Now that we’re developing healthy and sustainable habits, a new, positive nighttime routine is essential.  You might want to consider avoiding screens, such as your iPhone, laptop, or TV for 30 minutes to an hour before bed. This will relax your eyes and nervous system, setting you up for undisturbed rest. Additionally, taking a hot bath, lighting some candles or using essential oils, meditating, practicing slow and deep breathing, or quietly reflecting on your day are all great ways to unwind. Additionally, reading a book for a few minutes in bed has been shown to help with relaxation and decompression after a long day. No matter how you choose to set up your nightly routine, know that you’re choosing to make time for rest, repair, and reflection, thereby taking your health and recovery into your own hands. Bravo!

A simple, positive, and mindful morning routine can set the tone for the whole day. Here are some tips for getting into a healthy morning groove. When we wake up, we have a choice about how to start our day. Oftentimes, those first few precious hours between waking and starting the day can set the tone for our whole day ahead. We can choose to use them productively, setting ourselves up for a positive day. Alternatively, we can squander those hours and set a negative tone for the remainder of the day. It’s empowering, as it’s our choice. However, sometimes we need the knowledge and tools to truly know how to start the day with mindfulness and positivity. Here are a few tips for a morning routine that will support your life and recovery.

It’s so important to allow ourselves to truly feel our feelings. Here are a few tips for accessing your emotions and why it’s so important to do so. When we start our recovery journeys, we’re often coming from a past of numbing our feelings with drugs and/or alcohol. Additionally, other addictive behaviors and negative coping mechanisms like avoidance and dissociation can add to this numbing effect. We enter recovery with months or years of accumulated emotions that we haven’t dealt with. In addition to those stored emotions, we also have a whole slew of other feelings that arise because we’re in a new place, learning new things, meeting new people, and most of all, we don’t have our substances of choice to lean on. The process of getting to know our deepest emotions is not easy and it’s not a straight line. We spend time and effort in recovery learning to get to know ourselves again, learning about our triggers and our strengths, and discovering how to access our long-neglected emotions. It’s a lot to deal with and it’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed or even like you don’t know where to begin. Here are a few reasons why it’s so important to access our emotions and truly let ourselves feel them, as well as some tips for how to go about this very rewarding process.

There are so many healthy habits that support our recoveries and overall wellbeing that it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Where do we begin? How do we know what will work for us? How do we work all of these healthy habits into our already busy schedules? Getting stressed out about being healthy defeats the purpose. As humans, we tend to over complicate most things and we forget the foundational healthy principles that we probably learned from our grandparents. When you’re feeling lost, depressed, or confused about where to begin on your health journey, it’s time to get back to basics. Instead of obsessing over a juice cleanse or learning all of the fancy workout routines, start with these five foundational healthy habits and go from there. These habits are so simple that you might not realize how important they truly are. When we engage in these five wellness tools every day, we’re setting ourselves up for a healthy recovery and life.  Avoiding drugs and alcohol. If you’re in recovery, you’re already doing this. Avoiding harmful substances is one of the best ways to increase overall physical and mental health. Hydration. We all need different amounts of water depending on our size, age, and activity levels. However, getting proper hydration and drinking at least 6 eight-ounce glasses of water each day is essential for digestion, mental clarity, and overall health. Eat fruits and vegetables. Eat at least a few cups per day of fruits and veggies and you’ll be well on your way to awesome physical health. Your mood will probably improve, too. Sleep at least 7-8 hours per night. We often forget how important sleep is. When we don’t sleep well, we are more prone to depression, illness, and we’re unable to concentrate. Exercise regularly. The general recommendation for exercise is 30-minutes of moderate exercise at least 5x per week. Do whatever makes you feel best.

Healthy habits are always important, especially in recovery. When we begin our recovery journeys, our lives drastically change. Even when we’re immersing ourselves in meetings and therapy, it can feel as if we need more of an anchor -- something to ground us in our day to day lives and help us get to know ourselves better. As newly sober individuals, this is both an exciting and tenuous time. We are learning coping skills, developing knowledge and tools for recovery, and replacing old habits with newer, healthier ones. After we stop using our substances of choice, it’s important that we fill that space with activity. Boredom and ennui can be dangerous in early recovery, as it lets our minds wander and can tempt us to slide back into our addictive patterns. Early recovery is a great time to get to know ourselves again and form sustainable, healthy habits that will support us in our recovery journey and beyond.  There are countless examples of positive lifestyle choices and habits that will bolster our mental health and overall recovery. Part of the process of starting healthy habits involves getting to know ourselves better. Begin by asking yourself what kinds of activities, foods, and hobbies you love to do but got lost during your addiction. Your joys, interests, and curiosities will offer clues as to which healthy habits will be most sustainable and healthy for you. Additionally, ask yourself what makes you feel great. We’re all different. Some of us love playing sports and others of us love to make art or dance. There’s no right or wrong answer, as long as it doesn’t disrupt your recovery and sobriety. Of course, there are some common examples of healthy habits that we should all engage in. These include healthy sleep patterns, hydration, consuming lots of fruits and vegetables, regular exercise, spending time in nature, meditating and mindfulness activities, and healthy socializing. This is an exciting time where we get to create the life that we envision for ourselves.

When we’re in active addiction mode, perhaps we’re not sure what “fun” really means to us. Early on in our addictions, we might have used alcohol and/or drugs and other addictive behaviors as a way to lose control, have fun, self-medicate, party, and/or relax. Eventually, we realize that our addictions collapse into turmoil and hardship. “Fun” doesn’t figure too heavily into the equation. One inspiring part about recovery is that we get to redefine what it means to have fun. We get to figure out what we enjoy, what makes us feel free and lighthearted, and what makes us feel bad. Oftentimes, we’re starting from the ground up. However, we can view this process of redefining what it means to have fun as an exciting self-discovery journey. Here are a few tips for redefining fun in recovery.

Empathy is a vital human ability that lets us connect with others and feel less alone. Here’s how to practice it daily. We hear a lot about “empathy” these days. It seems to be having a trending moment, and for good reason. Quite simply, empathy is the ability to understand and feel the emotions and experiences of someone else. Why is empathy so important? It helps us to think outside of our own perspective, feel less alone, and understand other people in deeper and more meaningful ways. When we live our lives with empathy, we are less inclined to write people off, express rage or hold grudges, and isolate. We begin to understand that everyone is coming from his or her own life experience. Whether we agree with someone or not, the ability to empathize it deeply important in our collective human evolution. In recovery, empathy can help us forgive, release anger and fear, and experience deeper love and understanding for ourselves and others. While the idea of empathy is quite compelling, it’s sometimes difficult to know how to employ it in everyday life. One of the simplest ways to develop empathy is to truly listen to other people. Oftentimes, we are so wrapped up in our own opinion or drama that we aren’t taking the time to turn off our judgments and listen with compassion and openness to the feelings of others. Additionally, it’s important to remain openminded and try to suspend some of your own judgments or preconceived notions. The key to empathy is to examine some of our own longstanding beliefs and release them so that we can see others more clearly, unclouded by our own judgment. Lastly, practice treating everyone you come in contact with as important, worthy, and deserving of your attention. We can learn a lot from other people and other people often need a helping hand or a listening ear. When we start to move through the world with an open mind, eager to listen to other people and their experiences, our worlds and hearts begin to open up.