Ever heard of self-care? Maybe it feels like a buzzword in addiction treatment circles, but it’s incredibly important to your long-term sobriety. Simply put, self-care in recovery matters. A lot. No matter where you are on the recovery journey, your daily rhythms and rituals need to include self-care. So what does a healthy relationship between self-care and recovery actually look like in practice?
What is Self-Care?
On the surface, self care reads like taking care of yourself. While that’s true, there’s more to it. According to VerywellHealth.com, self-care is the practice of taking care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life to promote your individual health and wellness. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as the ability to promote and maintain health, prevent disease, and cope with illness or disability with or without healthcare provider support. These abilities are applied in various areas of your daily life, such as:
- Nutrition
- Hygiene
- Physical activity
- Living conditions
- Social habits
- Self-medication and adhering to treatment regimens during illness
A key element of self-care is your personal responsibility to carry it out. In other words, it needs to be done by you for it to work. Otherwise, it doesn’t happen. Often, when distractions, the busyness of life, or seasons of challenge arise, self-care can fall by the wayside. To get the benefits of self-care long-term, it needs to be regularly prioritized and incorporated into your daily life, even when keeping it up feels difficult or inconvenient.
Why Self-Care in Recovery is Important
Self-care is a foundational practice for a healthy life, but what makes it particularly impactful in recovery? For starters, your lifestyle during your addiction was one likely fraught with anything but self-care. In pursuit of fueling your addiction, healthy habits like eating right, sleeping well, and regular hygiene were neglected or entirely set aside.
While you’re no doubt doing better as you put your addiction behind you, your body and mind are still making up for lost ground. Part of your recovery is keeping addiction triggers at bay so you can maintain your sobriety, but there’s something more to it as well. You’re also working towards a long-term healthy lifestyle. Self-care in recovery helps you restore your overall health and wellness and create positive habits to maintain said health for the long run.
Recovery self-care also keeps you in an ideal state to stick with your recovery goals. After all, following a recovery plan from rehab aftercare isn’t necessarily easy. Keeping up with your self-care in recovery will support the physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health you need to stay the course. When the going gets tough especially, you can rely on your self-care habits instead of resorting to self-sabotaging behavior that leads to drug or alcohol relapse.
Recovery Self-Care Practices to Pursue
Self-care in addiction recovery, like general self-care, involves multiple facets of your life. With that said, what are some key self-care practices to prioritize in recovery? Let’s explore:
Nutritious Eating Habits
A well-balanced diet is important for both your physical and emotional health. That means you can’t just eat donuts, candy, or fast food. Your diet should include a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats or protein, and in healthy portions. You also need to drink plenty of water.
Proper Sleep
Self-care in recovery means getting good sleep on a consistent basis. Prioritize going to bed and waking up at consistent times (employment permitting). Adopt a healthy nighttime routine that allows you to wind down and sleep seven to eight hours a night.
Exercise
Physical fitness and exercise are great for anyone, but especially when practiced as self-care in recovery. Exercise is a healthy way to relieve stress, a recovery self-soothing technique, and a natural dopamine producer.
Routine Medical Care
Make sure you’re keeping up with regular doctor’s appointments, dentist appointments, and any other medical care you may need. Follow healthy advice and recommendations when you’re sick. Maintain healthy day-to-day hygiene.
Therapy, Counseling, Support
Self-care in addiction recovery also means continually focusing on your mental health. This may mean utilizing therapy available to you through your treatment center’s aftercare program. If you’re not already, join an addiction recovery support group and attend consistently. You may also consider one-on-one appointments with a counselor on a regular basis.
Hobbies
In the midst of the more serious aspects of recovery self-care, it’s also important to pursue activities that give you joy and lift your spirits. Carve out time in your routines for your favorite hobbies or consider taking on a hobby that’s entirely new. Bonus points if the activities connect you with other people.
Spending Time With Others
You need relationships in recovery. It’s not a journey you go alone. Surround yourself with people who encourage you and support your sobriety goals. Take the time to repair relationships with family and loved ones. Regular social activities are a must in this momentous season of your life.
Spiritual Growth
Spirituality and your higher power, key parts of Twelve Step facilitation therapy, are important to your recovery, your identity, and your life. Focus on engaging this part of you, whether you’re religious or not, through prayer, meditation, community, and personal reflection.
Holistic Addiction Recovery in New England
Pursuing healthy self-care in recovery starts with first achieving holistic healing from addiction. At Sana at Stowe in Stowe, Vermont, our addiction recovery program helps you uncover and overcome the root causes of your substance use disorder. Then we equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to cultivate healthy well-being long-term. To learn more, call us today.
