Self-care in recovery is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Self-care is an aspect of recovery integrated into your time at a treatment center and well after completing your initial drug and alcohol rehab.
Liberty House Recovery is the best luxury drug and alcohol rehab center in Michigan. Contact us today to learn more about how our Michigan dual diagnosis therapy can help.
Importance of Recovery Self Care
Self-care is vital to recovery because overcoming addiction does not happen simply by attending a drug and alcohol rehab program. Overcoming addiction is a lifelong process that requires you to have tools in your toolbox that you can use when you are triggered or dealing with things like boredom, stress, or other negative emotions.
Without proper self-care, you’ll feel your motivation for staying sober and living a fulfilling life decrease as your mood starts to go down and you have low energy because of triggers or cravings. A single act of self-care can lead to bigger effects and ongoing healthy decisions that snowball into continued success.
Some examples of self-care include:
- Meditation
- Mindfulness
- Yoga
- Art
- Music
- Going outdoors
- Exercise
- Healthy eating
- Communication
- Setting boundaries
- Medication management
- Socializing
- Setting boundaries
What you have to do to achieve good self-care in recovery will look different from someone else. Self-care involves a combination of keeping your mind and body healthy, and this can include proper diet, good sleep, and exercise. It also means reducing your stress, something achieved by sleep, exercise, and meditation.
Sleep can be bolstered by regular exercise, light yoga stretching, meditation, and healthy eating. Having social activities that you enjoy, communicating with others, and promoting relaxation or fun while maintaining boundaries can improve your mood, emotions, and stress.
Self Care in Recovery: Simple Things to Do
Programs offered at places like Liberty House Recovery give you a chance to participate in essential holistic Concepts that can be used for long-term recovery self-care.
Meditation
Meditation allows clients to bring their attention to the present moment. This can be very useful in targeting depression or anxiety, PTSD, or substance abuse. Meditation teaches clients to accept uncomfortable emotions or thoughts and focus only on how they are feeling and what is happening in the present moment rather than what has happened in the past or might happen in the future.
Meditation comes in many forms:
- Your self-care could start with walking meditation, where you focus on your footsteps as you walk back and forth across your driveway or in a local park
- Your self-care could include eating meditation, where you focus on all aspects, such as taste, smell, and feel, when you have a snack or a meal
- Your meditation could be sitting meditation or meditation where you lie down just before bed
- You could try moving meditation in the form of Tai Chi or Qigong
- If you have a long commute driving meditation can be a good alternative
Mindfulness
Mindfulness and meditation are two of the most important concepts for recovery self-care. Self-care is vital to recovery, but effective self-care means you put your needs first sometimes.
In order to figure out what your needs are, you might need to clear your head, stop overthinking, and focus on the present, all of which can be achieved with simple meditation, mindfulness, or supplementary practices like yoga and art.
Yoga
Studies have confirmed that yoga naturally reduces cortisol levels, your stress hormone, even if you’ve never practiced before or you don’t practice particularly intense sessions. Self-care is vital to recovery, and stretching with simple yoga poses whenever you need to relax can effectively continue your ongoing sobriety and success.
Art Therapy
Art therapy is multidimensional. At home, art therapy might take the form of watercolors, painting, working with clay, using paper mache, or coloring in an adult coloring book. Art therapy doesn’t require any experience with art to prove useful.
Art therapy is a way to integrate self-care in recovery by finding simple things like anxiety coloring books or Zen meditation painting boards. These are not necessarily things you need to do during treatment but are ways you can focus on self-care in recovery.
Zen meditation painting boards are reusable; all you have to do is paint with a wet brush. Once the board dries, your painting goes away. Such a simple tool can give you something to fall back on when life is overwhelming, when you have suffered a defeat, or when it doesn’t feel like you’re going to make it through your next challenge.
What Art Therapy Can Do
- Make it easier for clients to open up emotionally
- Give clients something within their control to physically touch or create
- Offer a way to cope with anxiety
In an art therapy session, individuals have the chance to move through the creative process while working with a professional therapist. That therapist will often discuss things that are going on in a client’s life, things that have happened in their past, or goals they want to achieve while in a session. Call our team today to verify your insurance benefits and start learning more about self-care.