Stress is a leading cause of relapse. The overwhelming fear of addiction can resurface at any time. It’s an ugly truth to recovery. You have been working so hard at sobriety and life can come at you fast. Just like the rest of the world, if you focus on one thing, although it can be successful, the rest of your life can get carried away with the waves. Finding balance and relieving stress will level life back out and make it more manageable.
When this stress shows up, show it the door. Let go of the control and recognize what stress is. There are racing thoughts, anxiety, and even bodily functions that will skip a beat. When you finally say, “Wait, I know I’m just stressed out,” you will know what to do next.
It’s time to relax.
In a past life, relaxing was when you escaped to drugs and/or alcohol. This new life of sobriety will test you. After cutting out triggers, negative behaviors, and bad influences you will find there is too much time in the day versus not enough. Finding balance, hobbies, and distractions isn’t easy, but there is help. Reaching out to people is a good start. Even if they can’t give you something to do, talking it out will help you in the fight with fear.
Think back to what you enjoyed doing before addiction. Think about things in life that made you excited or happy. When possible, these activities can release you from your ties of stress and anxiety. Many coping skills work, you just have to find what works for you. Everyone has different coping skills that work for them. The only way to figure out what works for you is to try them all.
If you have a difficult time figuring out what coping skills will work for you, then just take care of yourself. Our basic day to day activities can take up most if not all of our time. Single moms will comment on not having time to shower, stress. Men that work 12 hours a day and can’t seem to get control of their eating habits because of the long days, stress. Students that take on a workload worthy of two students, stress. Managing ourselves, our time, and what we have control over will aid in stress relief. Taking a hot shower, meditation, prayer, reading, watching funny movies or TV are just some of the things you can do to relax. Then you can focus on redirecting your attention back to your goals. It’s ok to let go and reel in the stress. The problems or situations will still be there, but you will now have a clear mind on how to dominate the solutions. Just remember who you are and who you want to be.
Serenity Oaks Wellness Center seeks to adorn each client which comes through our 5 week program by taking their life and making it more beautiful with the tools of recovery. Call us today for information: 844-720-6847
