It’s been a while since we’ve had a guest blogger. Jennifer Scott has written the informative article below. I apologize that her pictures did not translate over! Her website is http://spiritfinder.org/ if you would like to know more. Thanks so much Ms. Scott!
Improve Your Overall Health While In Addiction Recovery
It was a long road, but you made it. After years of substance abuse and suffering from addiction, you managed to get clean and formally enter addiction recovery. This is a great time for you, but it’s not going to be easy. Although you’re strong enough to beat addiction, that doesn’t mean you can’t use some extra help to make this journey easier.
One of the best ways you can help yourself through the recovery process is by improving your overall wellness. But what does that even mean?
Being Healthy Supports Addiction Recovery
The University of California Riverside lists seven dimensions of wellness as a way of defining wellness:
- Social: Having friends and family to socialize with.
- Emotional: Cope with stress and challenges.
- Spiritual: Having peace and harmony.
- Environmental: Living safely.
- Occupational: Having a good paying and fulfilling job.
- Intellectual: Learning and challenging yourself mentally.
- Physical: Being physically fit and well.
These elements are imperative if you want to be successful in your addiction recovery journey.
As samhsa.gov explains, wellness and health are particularly important for people struggling with a disorder or addiction. Chances are, your body and mind were hurt by the addiction, so your chances of addiction recovery go up when your wellness improves.
What You Can Do To Stay Healthy
Wellness is important to you, but how can you improve it? It starts by knowing yourself. You need to understand what helps you socially, emotionally, intellectually, and so on. For example, what type of social activities do you love? Extroverts might love big parties, while introverts prefer small gatherings. As you explore your options, write down what works for you.
Then turn that list into a checklist that you can regularly review. Think of it as a road map to your overall wellness, or at least reminders of what you should be doing. Addictions And Recovery has a great example of a checklist you can use to monitor yourself. It includes items like:
- Call your friends or family when you have problems.
- Keep eating healthy and work on getting enough sleep each night.
- Avoid the “friends” who helped you get addicted in the first place.
- Engage in hobbies that promote wellness.
You also need to keep track of how you are doing week to week. Here is a great self-evaluation checklist to monitor your progress. By checking in with yourself each week, you can catch any slips before things get out of hand., but you can also see how successful you are, thus boosting your confidence and self-esteem.
Holistic Therapies That Work
As you continue to develop individual strategies to promote your overall wellness, you should also look into holistic therapies. This is not some kind of New Age medicine! Instead, these are treatments that work on your overall wellness — and they can help with your addiction recovery.
The Treehouse explains that holistic therapies can play a vital role in regaining your previous life. Although everyone should have their own personalized plan, here examples of holistic treatments that can help:
- Acupuncture
- Meditation or prayer
- Biofeedback
- Yoga
- Herbal therapy
Even just getting some regular exercise can help you get through addiction recovery more smoothly.
Your Overall Wellness Matters
Addiction takes a toll on your mind and body. Although you’ve beaten it for now, addiction recovery is still a tough road to travel. That’s why you need to look to your overall wellness. Examine your life through the seven dimensions and find ways to support those that work for you. Keep a checklist handy, and find a holistic therapy that interests you. And remember, taking care of your wellness is a vital part of your addiction recovery.
