Addiction recovery is a complex and multi-faceted process – one that can be drastically improved with a little hard work and effort in the ‘habitual’ realm of your life. Replacing bad habits with good ones will help to improve the quality of your sobriety, while making you an all-around better and more well-rounded individual. Here are five examples of specific behavioral habits that have the ability to drastically improve your recovery.
1. Getting enough sleep.
You wouldn’t leave the house if your iPhone was at a 5% charge, would you? Think of your brain in the same terms – if you don’t get a good night’s sleep, you will not function properly throughout the day, and you will put yourself at greater risk of agitation and exhaustion – both major relapse triggers. Perhaps you have heard the acronym HALT in relation to addiction recovery. This stands for four common triggers – hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. Not only will getting enough sleep help you to avoid relapse, but it will improve your ability to reap as much happiness and fulfillment as possible from your newfound life of sobriety. Sweet dreams!
2. Paying attention to what you eat.
Many of the best drug rehabs offer nutritional courses to their clients. This is because the food that we eat and the nutrients that we are regularly putting into our bodies play restorative roles, helping our physical bodies return to a state of healthy functioning as quickly as possible. Additionally, adequate nutrition will help us feel good – we will have more energy, we will think more clearly, and we will be able to get the absolute most out of our lives. Get into the habit of eating right!
3. Volunteer/service work.
Helping others is a surefire way to take the focus off of ourselves and our own issues while helping to rebuild self-esteem. There are many ways in which we can do service work in regards to the 12-step fellowship of our choosing. For instance, we can chair a meeting, offer to make the coffee or bring cookies, or pick up cigarette butts after or before the meeting. This will keep us accountable while working to bolster our self-esteem. We can also volunteer outside of meetings, at homeless shelters, for non-profit organizations, or at the local food bank. When it comes to helping others, opportunities are essentially endless.
4. Sticking with the winners.
Make it a habit to spend the majority of your time with sober men and women who value their sobriety, and are ‘doing the right thing’ in terms of working a program and staying on track. Seek out the individuals who are taking their sobriety seriously – who have completed drug rehab and are making meetings on a regular basis, who are working closely alongside a sponsor and staying active with service work and other extracurricular activities. You are the company you keep, after all!
5. Keeping your personal space clean.
Clean room, clean life! If you make an effort to keep your personal space clean and livable, you will feel more at ease mentally, studies show. Keeping things organized will also serve as a constant reminder of how far you’ve personally come. Stay on the right track and you will find that keeping things tidy becomes all but second nature.
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