Recovery from addiction is a journey of ups and downs. That’s where self-care becomes your superpower – the practices that replenish your energy, boost your mood and keep you moving forward on the path to a healthy life.
The consideration in these cases is that like in any other sickness, the sick person itself has to take care in the process of recovering from drug or alcohol dependence.
As another important organ of a human being, our brain needs some kind of care to work efficiently.
Other than the patients maintaining sobriety, they also ought to take care of their health since self-care is crucial in enhancing the same. Healing of your body, soul, and mind will assist you in avoiding things that might tempt you to relapse.
At Jagruti Rehab Centre in Mumbai, Self-care can aid in addiction recovery by addressing:
- Mental health.
- Reducing stress and anxiety
- Reducing dependence on substance usage
- Improving Social Well-Being
It is a way of giving special attention to the self, which includes not only the physical but also the emotional part. It is a rejuvenation where one prepares oneself to prevent getting tired or experiencing burnout. It has items usually associated with the self-care routine, including getting an adequate amount of sleep, consuming a balanced diet, and engaging in any favorite activity.
Why is Self-care important?
Self-care helps you de-stress, stay healthy in mind and body, and avoid getting burnt out.It is an act of managing personal wellbeing which entails not only the bodily health but also the psychological facet. It helps you:
- De-stress and relax: Just like a phone can overheat, you can get burned out too. Care focus refreshes a person and directs him to perform stress-free activities.
- Stay healthy: Eating well, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly are all forms of self-care. They keep your body strong and your mind sharp.
- Avoid getting burnt out: If you keep pushing yourself without taking breaks, you’ll eventually crash. Self-care helps you recharge and maintain your energy levels.
- Feel good: Taking care of oneself reduces the level of stress and physical discomfort that one goes through. Taking care of oneself can help one feel better, feel better about the self and feel that one has some measure of control over events.
How Self-Care is Important in Addiction Recovery?
Self-Care for addiction recovery is important and it encompasses the health of an individual in terms of physical appearance. It is about supplying your physical body, your thoughts, your emotions, and your soul with what they need to grow.
Rebalance Your Life: Addiction can make everything feel off-track. Self-care enables you to get back on track because you have spent a proportional amount of time catering to your needs. Various ways of dieting include eating healthy foods, eating a balanced diet, sleeping, and exercising as forms of putting the body back to normal again.
Believe in Yourself: Doing things for yourself shows you need to be taken care of or translated as showing that one deserves to be in the process of healing. This empowers you and it’s easier to decline cravings or anything that would make you want to use them again.
Handle Your Emotions: Self-care can be a strong inducement for you. Prayer and writing your thoughts and feelings down on paper can assist you in managing emotions and stress properly. Speaking to a therapist is also their self-care; it shows how much the person cares about themselves.
Beat Stress and Anxiety: It is important to note that stress is one of the leading causes of addiction. Exercise assists in controlling or avoiding an extreme level of stress because people do not use substances to cope with such stress. Exercise also stimulates the release of endorphins in your head, chemicals that help a person feel good and that have pain-killing matters.
Feel Less Reliant on Substances: As an effect addiction is capable of taking its toll on one. Restoring relieves the physical, mental, and spiritual fatigue that is a result of stress. Physical well-being makes one more powerful in dealing with desire and thus makes positive steps in the process of healing.
Build a Strong Support System: It is beneficial to surround oneself with loved ones and friendly people, spending time with friends is one of the ways of self-nurturing. It’s easier to ensure that you don’t come across social norms that may compel you to take alcohol and more so, get the morale to remain sober.
Benefits of Self-Care in Recovery
Getting better from anything, whether it’s an illness, addiction, or just feeling down, is all about taking care of yourself. Self-care is like your superpower during recovery, helping you heal in a strong and lasting way. Here’s how it works:
Helps You Know Yourself: Valuing and being more conscious of how certain things work may help in learning more about oneself. This is the primary reason why such self-awareness is very important to have sound health in the future.
Keeps You on Track: When multiple aspects of self-care become a routine, the routine is secure. This consistency assists you to remain on the right track of recovery.
Chills You Out: Stressed up? Meditation or any type of exercise can help bring one down, hence recovery becomes easier.
Boosts Your Body: Especially by eating well, taking our meals, sleeping, and exercising we ensure that we make the body strong enough to fight diseases.
Lifts Your Spirits: Selecting what activity to undertake may bring about positive effects because one is engaging in affairs that he or she wishes. Looking after oneself cannot be overemphasized since it leads to happiness and the reduction of anxiety and depression.
Makes You Tougher: It is crucial to note that self-care fortifies you as a person or as an organization by developing your emotional structures. In the period of recovery, the difficult times will come, and you will be ready for it.
What are the various self-care practices in recovery?
Recovery is a perfect time to build a self-care routine. Why? Because free time can sometimes lead to cravings. Self-care fills that time with healthy habits that keep you strong.
Here’s how to get started without feeling overwhelmed:
- Pick Your Superpower: What do you want your self-care routine to do for you? Less stress? More energy? Feeling more in control? Knowing your goal helps you pick the right activities.
- Brainstorm Your Toolkit: Here, brainstorm as many things that you like to do as can be useful in attaining the goal. Perhaps it is reading, going for a walk, or being with family and friends.
- Start Small, Win Big: Instead of revamping everything all at once, do not attempt it. Choose one or two of the activities included in the list to try. Select things that would not be difficult and that would not require so much effort, time, or money.
- Stick with It: Some of the activities that you have chosen should be practiced every day (or multiple times a day) for a week. This will help you see if they’re really working.
- Track Your Progress: Keep a simple journal to see how you’re feeling after doing your self-care activities. Does it help you feel less stressed? More energetic?
- Tweak and Grow: After a week, check your journal and see what’s working. Keep the activities that help and ditch the ones that don’t. You can also add one or two new activities you feel like testing out.
At Jagruti Rehabilitation Centre in Mumbai, we believe self-care is a process and it does not need to be rushed. Hopefully, after months or a few years, you will find what works for you, so be patient. Eventually, it is possible to establish habits in recovery that will lead to the creation of a self-care plan that sustains strength.
