Early recovery is a time that brings about change. While these changes are often positive, they can be unsettling and scary as we move into the unknown – a life in recovery that we have never lived before. Learning to establish healthy life skills can make a huge difference in building a sustainable, new life in recovery.
Some are learning these skills for the first time, others are learning how to do things they have done for years like grocery shop and laundry, clean and sober. These changes can seem overwhelming, yet with the support of treatment professionals and a recovery community establishing healthy life-skills in early recovery helps establish a solid foundation for continued sobriety.
Setting a New Routine
For many people in recovery, their daily routine prior to starting on the path of recovery, revolved around using drugs and alcohol. Although the daily routine may not have been a healthy one, there was a focus and purpose for each day, but it likely revolved around using. Once the drugs and alcohol are removed from their body, the old daily routine won’t work anymore and the purpose for the day must change too.
In recovery, it is so important to create new routines that support a life of recovery. These are simple things like waking up at the same time, spending quiet time with a higher power, making the bed, eating regular meals, attending recovery meetings and exercising.
Other routines may be weekly, such as meetings with a recovery sponsor, outings with new friends in recovery, cleaning, grocery shopping and laundry. When we establish healthy routines that we can count on, it provides a sense of structure and stability that allows many people to feel better about all the changes that occur during early recovery.
The Bottom Line
At Perspectives, we focus on life skills because we have seen firsthand how much of an impact it can have on helping clients establish and maintain a successful recovery. Our sober living program is an ideal environment for individuals that need ongoing support and accountability with daily routine, community integration, resume and job skills, budgeting and financial skills, meal planning, time management and healthy communication. We also understand that each person has unique strengths and challenges, therefore we cater our support and coaching to meet their individual needs.