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Self-Care Rituals To Start Your Day

Self-Care Rituals To Start Your Day

Self-care rituals are a great way to take time to nurture yourself this winter. Whether you love the holiday season or hate it, this year will be different than most. This is especially true for people in recovery who are navigating a different world. Today, you have the tools to help you stay sober. Self-care is an important tool, especially during a stressful time such as pandemics and the holiday season.

Self-care isn’t just a buzz word. It’s an important recovery tool that can nourish your body, mind, and/or spirit. Finding things that can help provide this type of relief is important throughout recovery. Self-care rituals can be powerful tools for confidence-building and long-term sobriety.

Self-Care Rituals

Many people find that self-care is best as a routine or ritual. Think about it: you get up, you shower, brush your teeth, and you get dressed all to face the day. If you don’t do this ritual every day, you might feel out of step. You’ll probably feel awkward if you stop doing part of your ritual, such as brushing your teeth.

When you were active in your addiction, you probably stopped carrying out your rituals. Addiction gets in the way of life-affirming activity.

But when you are sober, your morning routine becomes a ritual you do without thinking about it too much. That’s because it helps you prepare to face the day.

Here are a few ideas for morning self-care rituals:

These are just some ideas for getting started with your day. Planning and living with purpose is an important approach to living in recovery. You’re in charge of a lot of things, including your own actions and reactions. Work your program, and stay sober. Most likely, the best is still yet to come.

Consider Sober Housing

Are you or somebody you love interested in sober housing? Living among others who are also in recovery can provide a way to create new friendships and find community among others who are sober. Get in touch to learn more about our programs at 760-216-2077.

Recovery is a lifestyle you must adhere to year-round. Different times of year bring different experiences, and you must get through them to stay sober! The winter months may feel difficult or emotional for the first few years you're sober. Today, with the complication of the coronavirus pandemic, life can sometimes feel like a struggle.

Why Is Winter Hard For People in Recovery

Few people feel like winter is their favorite season. If you're like many people, you may find yourself in the doldrums or suffering from seasonal affective disorder, a form of depression brought on by the changing seasons. With less sunlight and colder weather, humans naturally turn into homebodies. In recovery, however, isolation can quickly turn into loneliness or depression.

There are also other reasons that people feel like winter is hard in recovery. Many people also associate the winter months with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years' holidays. Of course, holidays can be challenging times for people in recovery. Sometimes you'll feel quite emotional about the past or even feel triggered by it.

For many reasons, winter can be a challenging time for people in recovery. This winter may even seem a little more difficult due to the ongoing emotional and economic strains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking care of yourself and focusing on your recovery is an integral part of the game plan. Here are some ideas to help you lift your spirit every day.

Spirit-Lifting Activities For Winter

If you live in a warm climate, you won't have to deal with the cold. Yet there are still some effects that you have to cope with during the winter months. Holidays, shorter days in general, and less activity are all things that seasons have in common coast-to-coast.

  1. Get enough Vitamin D. Most people aren't getting enough in the winter months because it mostly comes from the sun. Try to do something outdoors for at least fifteen minutes a day.
  2. Get exercise, even if it's incremental. For example, take the stairs more often. Do a lap around the block later on. Walk to the bodega.
  3. Explore vegetables and fruits. Smoothies have a plethora of ingredients to help boost your body and mind. Try a recipe or two to add more nutrition to your day.
  4. Spend five minutes being mindful each morning before anything else.
  5. Do something kind for somebody else. Whether this means checking up on a loved one or cleaning up the kitchen in your group house, just try it. Helping other people feels good.
  6. Find ways to be more creative in life. Create your own winter-themed masks or make up your own dinner recipes.
  7. Find ways to reach out to others online. Create an online group focused on a hobby you enjoy.
  8. Write cards to older people or children who are hospitalized. Focus on spreading happiness to the person you're writing to.
  9. Help out a housemate with something they're stressed about. Getting outside of yourself is crucial, and you might have a skill you can share, such as helping with a resume or building a website.
  10. Take 30 minutes doing something you genuinely enjoy. Take a long bath, read Stephen King, or watch tutorials for surfing. As long as it's something you like, and it hurts no one, enjoy yourself.

Consider Sober Living

Have you thought about living in a sober home? Living among other people in recovery can help you have a sense of stability. Learn more about what options are available and how we can help by calling us at 760-216-2077.

 

Today, work or how you make a living is one of the things American culture values. Men especially are told that they are their work, while women try to balance their ambition with their family goals. Any work problems and goals may cause self-esteem issues for people who are ambitious. Addiction to work is common among people in recovery as well as others who are not.

In recovery, there is sometimes a complicated relationship with work. If you’re still in a career you love, you may feel you have to make up for time lost to addiction. Other people in recovery choose to start new jobs or careers. Either way, there is often a feeling of “not being good enough” when a person in recovery returns to the workplace. This is one gateway to addiction to work.

Overworking or working more than forty hours a week on a regular basis can cause you problems in your recovery. You need to remember to focus on yourself and working your program.

Why Do You Need Work-Life Balance?

As a person in recovery, a work/life balance is important. Without your sobriety, you won’t be able to keep a job or excel in your career for long, anyway. In early recovery, you will still be working on personal issues and relationships.  Working too much or all the time can harm your progress immensely and keep your focus away from your recovery, which can lead to relapse.

Working an assigned set of hours and keeping to those hours only can be the solution to balance in some industries such as hospitality. However, some people who work in office settings allow themselves to be tethered to their jobs through devices, checking email on their days off or working every day of the week.

Working more than 40 hours a week is the standard because more hours are simply unhealthy for your body. Your mind and spirit also need a break to spend time nurturing your relationships, going to 12-step meetings, and getting the proper amount of sleep.

Addiction to Work is a Real Thing

Working too much can be an addiction. If you’re using work to distract yourself from your friends, family, and home life, that’s a problem. Avoiding something doesn’t make it go away, and overworking yourself can cause you a lot of stress. You may work so much you forget to eat, sleep or hydrate properly. You may find yourself canceling important events like watching your kid at a play or going to a family get together. Putting your work before your recovery can cause you problems.

All of the same behaviors – such as lying, manipulating, and avoiding life on life’s terms can start to emerge when you’re using work as an escape from life. You may make excuses to work when you don't need to. You may sacrifice relationships or responsibilities to spend more time working.

Working like this isolates you. You may forget some of your recovery basics or feel triggered to use your drug of choice because work stresses you out.

Addiction to work can be serious, but it is treatable just like any addiction. First, admit you're powerless. Ask for help from somebody you trust in recovery.

Staying Focused on Recovery

Staying focused on recovery can help you keep a healthy work-life balance. If you’re already “in too deep” you may need help moderating the amount of time you work and sticking to a structured schedule. Addiction to work can be stopped in its tracks if you commit to putting your recovery first in your life again.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to others if you find yourself working as an escape. It’s not uncommon for people in recovery to pick up a new addiction.

Just recognize it for what it is, and reach out to your sponsor and others who can help you reclaim a balance on your work versus home life. You’re powerless over your addiction, but you’re responsible for your recovery. It’s okay to ask for help reclaiming your free time if your work life is getting out of hand.

Consider Sober Living

Many people in early recovery want a healthy transition when they’re going back to the “real world”. Sober living homes offer a place of safety and support. Sober Living San Diego offers structure, security and sobriety tools for residents making their way through their recovery journey. Learn more about what we offer at 760-216-2077.

Once you’ve been in sobriety a while, life becomes more interesting. When you were drinking and drugging, you probably had goals that you thought about. But as addiction takes over, goals and relationships go by the wayside. It’s hard to remember your sense of purpose when you’re using drugs or alcohol. But once you’re sober, you’re probably already thinking of the new possibilities in life. Setting goals is a part of your new life. Using to-do lists can help you stay organized on a daily basis.

Getting Started with Your List

Many planners and organizers online offer to-do list pages. There are many ways that people in recovery learn to chart their progress and set goals. A list of things you want to accomplish every day can help you set aside specific times to work on things.

How many goals do you have right now? Pick up to five to start out with. List them on a piece of paper.  For each of your goals, there are steps to achievement. This is how you can begin to pursue them.

How to Create a List that Makes Sense

For example, if you want to go back to college next year, what are the steps that you would need to take? Break it down into easy steps, such as:

  1. For one thing, you’ll need to choose a school.
  2. You’ll need to apply and wait to be accepted.
  3. You probably need to get your high school or college transcripts and send them to the schools of your choice.
  4. You’ll need to figure out how to pay for school.
  5. You’ll need to decide what semester you’ll go back.
  6. Finally, you’ll choose your classes and take them.

For each of these goals, you can write a new to-do list to accomplish it. Once you’ve done this, you can break each goal into small tasks that move you forward.

Consider Sober Living

Many people who have completed treatment feel like they need more time to focus on their recovery. Sober housing, in a safe and serene environment, can help you learn more about what you want out of recovery. Learn more about how sober housing can help you learn more about life in recovery by calling us at 760-216-2077.

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