Meeting Your Needs
The road to recovery is lifelong and can include many challenges. It can be easy to fall into old habits or compare yourself to others. It can also be hard to know how to be there for a loved one while they are attempting to become sober. It is important to know how to meet your own needs and express those needs to others.
This blog will talk about ways to grant yourself and others care and love on the road to recovery.
Loving Yourself
The practice of loving yourself is difficult. It’s easy to brush it to the side and convince yourself you don’t deserve it. Thinking this way, especially while working through recovery, can cause you to retract to your old habits. It’s important to allow yourself forgiveness and the ability to move forward. These steps can help you achieve self-love throughout your recovery:
Self Care
Self-care may seem like it’s something you should only do every once in a while; maybe one random night a month, you draw yourself a bubble bath and light a candle to relax. But, it’s essential during your recovery process to reframe your perception of self-care.
Self-care is something you should work into your everyday routine. It doesn’t have to be something large that can disrupt your entire day. It can be something small like journaling for ten minutes a day or going for a walk. Allowing yourself to set aside time to care for yourself will help improve your mental health and allow yourself grace during your recovery.
Reconnect and Reach Out
Recovery can be a lonely road, so it’s important to take the steps to reconnect and maintain personal relationships. With the power of the internet, it’s easy to connect with friends all around the world. A small text, call, or Facetime can go a long way to lighten your mood and strengthen a personal relationship. In recovery, your mind may try to convince you that you have to do it alone, but you don’t. There are people who care about you and would love to keep in touch with you and help you during your journey.
Treat Yourself
Sometimes it’s nice to do something just for you. You can pick a night of the week and cook yourself a lavish meal, or you can buy yourself your favorite candy bar in the grocery store. You are allowed grace and forgiveness during your recovery, and it is important to give it to yourself. Just because you allow yourself forgiveness and a treat when you accomplish a goal doesn’t mean you condone your past actions. It just allows you the grace to move forward and grow.
Giving Love To Others
It can be hard to fully understand recovery if you yourself have never been through it. Having a loved one be affected by substance use can be hard to watch, but it’s important to their recovery to help meet them where they are and give love and support while they try to become or remain sober. The following are some steps you can take to better understand the road to recovery and how to love someone through it.
Lend An Ear
It’s important to make sure your loved ones feel like they can be honest and open with you. By creating a safe environment and listening to your loved ones about their recovery, you know how to help take care of them. By listening to their wants and needs, you can find the ways to best help them without smothering them or putting them into a situation where they could relapse.
Educate Yourself
Taking a step in educating yourself is great because it can help dispel any misconceptions or assumptions you have about addiction. Being educated about recovery and addiction can help you be equipped to handle tough situations without feeling lost. In high-stress situations, it can be hard to focus and know what to do, but if you have knowledge in your back pocket, it makes the hard moments easier to handle.
Set Boundaries
When being around someone who is going through recovery is important to establish and maintain healthy boundaries. Substance use and recovery affect family, friends, and loved ones, as well as the individual in recovery. However, it is important to protect your own health by setting boundaries with your loved ones to ensure you don’t end up overwhelmed or enabling their behaviors.
Take the First Step Toward Recovery at Chattanooga Recovery Center
At Chattanooga Recovery Center, our mission is to provide the compassionate care, encouragement, and self-sufficiency you need to seek a life of recovery. Our dedicated staff understands how complex substance use can be, which is why we build our holistic treatment programs around you and your needs.
For all of your recovery needs and questions contact Chattanooga Recovery Center at (423) 226-5331.
