12 Ways to Better Your Recovery

Through out the recovery process, you should be doing things to better yourself. Addiction recovery is all about learning a new way to live, free from the constraints of drugs and alcohol. At Royal Life Centers, we support healthy habit-making that allows our guests to feel balanced and cared for. There are many ways to make small changes in your life, that will leave a large, long term impact on your overall health. In addiction, many people neglect their physical, mental, and spiritual health. Royal Life Centers wishes to teach you how to re-learn wellness, and continue practicing small changes that ultimately lead to bettering yourself. We all continue to grow, long after addiction treatment comes to an end.
Treating alcohol and substance use disorder requires comprehensive addiction treatment. At Royal Life Centers, we use proven effective methods of addiction treatment, like intensive therapy and other therapeutic methods. We use medication-assisted treatment, to treat both withdrawal symptoms and mental health. Medication-assisted treatment is the use of medication alongside behavioral therapies. Substance abuse treatment should always begin with a medical detox service.
In medical detox at Royal Life Centers, we begin with evaluating your symptoms of withdrawal, and assessing for any co-occuring disorders. Our guests will begin their recovery process in medical detox, where they are treated for withdrawal symptoms and will begin the therapeutic work to uncover the root cause of their alcohol or substance abuse disorder. Our programs use individual therapy sessions, group therapies, adventure therapy, activity therapy, and equine therapy to heal our guests. Our treatment centers have a variety of treatment options that are designed to follow guests through their stages of recovery. We focus on behavioral health and mental health, physical health and spiritual health. Our programs are short term, but teach our guests how to be sober long term. Royal Life Centers focuses on healing, teaching new ways to live, and preventing relapse.
Part of recovery is learning healthy habits that will help you remain sober. People in recovery often overlook the importance of regularly creating personal goals that continue their inner growth. Goals are not just what you want to achieve in a career, or gain materialistically; you should have goals to be setting the bar higher for you as a person. Ask yourself what things you can be working on in your personality, behaviors, thoughts, etc. Especially during recovery, it is so important to make a routine out of the things that will keep you feeling cared for, supported, and evolving.
If you would like to know how to maintain forward growth, here are 12 ways to better your recovery:
1. Join a support group
Joining a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Gambler’s Anonymous, etc. can provide you with a program of recovery that is always accessible, to continue treating your addiction long after treatment ends.
2. Create and maintain healthy boundaries
Boundaries are hard for many people, not just addicts or alcoholics. Healthy relationships always need healthy boundaries, especially for those in recovery. Especially in new relationships, boundaries are important to set- as they teach the other person what you will or will not accept behaviorally. Setting and maintaining boundaries are important for everyone, but especially those in recovery. An example of a boundary you may want to set with friends or family could be “I don’t want to be around you when you are drinking or using substances.” Boundaries like these are protective of your recovery, and it is important to protect yourself while you are in a vulnerable state.
3. Make healthy habits
Whether it be a weekly yoga class, eating healthy, or taking a walk in the morning; healthy habits will continue to keep you healthy and enhance your recovery. Healthy habits you can make can look like: a morning and night time routine, meeting with friends in recovery once a week, calling a support each night, regularly practicing self-care, reading instead of napping, meditating daily, etc.
4. Practice mindfulness
Being mindful doesn’t have to mean practicing yoga or meditation. You can practice being mindful during various menial activities through out your day. Grounding yourself is all about being aware of each of your five senses (see, taste, touch, smell, feel). You can practice being mindful when you are taking a walk, drinking a cup of tea, cozying up on your favorite chair, etc. The possibilities are endless. Practicing mindfulness is all about being present in the moment. So ask yourself how you can be mindful the next time you are feeling anxious or busy. Focus on the moment and ground yourself.
5. Make achievable goals for yourself
Setting a small, achievable goal for the day can motivate you. This practice also builds self-esteem, as you are able to complete something that you set your mind to. Completing a new goal each day will make you feel accomplished, and as you complete more and more, you are able to see the power you have in making positive change. Goals can be as small as making your bed in the morning, or challenging your ability to accept unsavory circumstances that day.
6. Write a gratitude list every day
Taking time out of each day to sit down and write five things you are grateful for, is an excellent practice. Writing a list of gratitude will improve your mood, and show you all of the things you can be grateful to have. Often in our addiction, we tend to focus on all that we don’t have or all that we’ve lost. Writing five things you are grateful for will encourage positive thoughts, and teach you to have gratitude for the things that you do have.
7. Take small breaks through out your day to check in with yourself
It is important to remain self-aware in recovery and in life. How are you feeling in this moment? What can you do to increase the positivity you feel right now? What can you do to improve your decisions today? Knowing how to take a step back and think about how you can care for yourself is the ultimate form of supporting your health and recovery. Take this practice even further by asking yourself if your behaviors are in line with recovery or if they are unhealthy behaviors.
8. Write out a “10th step” inventory at the end of each day
A 10th step inventory speaks to the 12 steps of 12-step programs of recovery. Step 10 is “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” A personal inventory is a type of self-reflection that allows you to better understand yourself and behaviors through out the day. A 10th step inventory can take many forms, but if you would like to do a 10th step inventory and are unsure where to start, you can answer the following questions:
-what did you do to strengthen your recovery today?
-what could you have done better today?
-who did you help today?
-how were you selfish today?
-what spiritual principles of recovery did you practice today?
-what are you grateful for today?
-did you do anything to hurt your recovery today?
-what do you need to work on in your relationships with others?
-how did you practice self-care today?
9. Always look for opportunities help others
Being of service is a spiritual principle of recovery. As alcoholics and addicts, we are often lead by selfishness, so challenge that by reaching out to help others. Small acts of kindness and helping others is not just a nice thing to do, but it is rewarding for you as well. Feeling helpful builds up your self-esteem, ultimately making you feel more secure.
10. Build and maintain a strong sober support network
Having a strong sober support network is one of the most important tools in recovery. As you face hardships, undergo challenges, and feel stressed, it is crucial to have people you trust to talk to. Having a strong network of sober people who you can talk to and rely on in times of distress can make the biggest difference in how you are able to handle recovery. A great place to begin building a strong sober support network is in 12-step group meetings.
11. Choose one thing about your behavior that you would like to work on, each day
Are you impatient? Try making a conscious effort to remain patient and accepting for the day. Do you usually eat your meals fast? Try eating slowly today, making the experience more mindful. Do you wake up at the last possible minute? Try setting your alarm for five minutes earlier to see the difference it makes. Small changes can make a large impact, moving you toward positive change and healthy habits. Trying something new may be uncomfortable, but recovery is all about learning that growth can come from discomfort.
12. Meditate for five minutes
Taking five minutes out of your day to meditate can make a massive impact on your well-being. Meditating has a wide range of benefits to your mental and physical health. In addition to keeping you mindful, meditating for five minutes each day actually improves brain function and sleeping patterns. In addition to these benefits, there are hundreds of other proven benefits to meditating.
Working on yourself is an ever-evolving process, and it is important to remain in positive growth- especially in recovery. Recovery is the time to replace bad habits with healthy habits, dropping the things that no longer serve you and your best interest. Royal Life Centers helps you discover yourself and what brings you joy, and you can continue that process by being honest with yourself and making choices that set yourself up for success. Make sure that you are continuing to practice things that support your mental, physical and spiritual health.
If you would like to know about our treatment programs, or have any other questions, please reach out to our addiction specialists at (877)-RECOVERY or (877)-732-6837. Our team makes themselves available to speak with you 24/7. Because We Care.