Six Steps to Self-Care in Addiction Recovery: How to Create a Whole New You! 

In our busy world, finding time for self-care in addiction recovery can be a real challenge. However, it is so important for keeping you healthy and strong, both physically and mentally. Are you uncertain about where to start with self-care or struggling to fit it into your routine? Read through our guide and uncover a whole new you. 

As the name suggests, “self-care” is the practice of taking time to look after your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. It will look slightly different for everyone. 

The good news is that incorporating self-care into your life does not have to be difficult. 

We live in a world where employees are expected to work long hours, give up their free time, and dedicate themselves to work. This can come with negative repercussions, including the risk of burnout. 

Burnout can result in you feeling anxious, stressed, and depressed and has been proven to have a detrimental impact on your physical health. Self-care, therefore, is important in preventing yourself from getting to this stage. It offers a number of benefits: 

1. Reduced stress and anxiety. Taking time for regular self-care has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety, and this has a positive impact on your well-being, not to mention your productivity. 
    

2. Improved physical health. As well as offering mental benefits, self-care also reduces your risk of suffering from strokes, cancer, and heart attacks. 

3. Improved concentration. Neglecting your own well-being and happiness can reduce productivity. When you implement a regular self-care routine, you will find that your ability to focus is increased, offering benefits for you and your employer! 

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Now that we’ve explored the benefits of self-care, you may be wondering how to incorporate it into your life. 

Add small rituals to your daily routine that help you to cultivate self-care. These may include: 

1. Pencil it in. You need to treat your self-care time as a priority because it is a priority. Take the time to pencil it into your calendar physically, and don’t let yourself skip it. 

2. Find what you like. Self-care doesn’t have to be bubble baths and candles if that’s not your thing. The most important thing is to find something that works for you. It’s about what makes YOU feel good.

3. Get comfortable with “no.” It can be easy to say “yes” to everything, either out of obligation or good old-fashioned FOMO. This leads to us being overwhelmed and exhausted. Get comfortable with saying “no” if something doesn’t work for you. Check out my post, The Dangers of People Pleasing In Recovery: How I Overcame It, to learn more about just how damaging this can be.

4. Get enough sleep. Sleep is essential for our body, so don’t skimp on the z’s. 

5. Move your body. Even if you don’t feel like it, schedule time into your week to exercise. The endorphins will help your body look and feel its best. 

6. Eat properly. It sounds obvious, but you need to fuel your body with goodness. Meal plan, prep in advance, and pack in those fruits and veggies. Your body will love you for it. 

Creating a self-care routine shouldn’t be an obstacle – it needs to be your priority. Remember, you can only be your best self to others when you have taken care of your own needs first. You can never pour from an empty cup. When we support a consistent practice of self-care, we are nurturing our mental and physical health on all levels. We have been abusing ourselves for so long it’s pretty easy to put our needs on the back burner.

If you are like me, you might unconsciously starve yourself of even the most necessary self-care to inadvertently punish yourself for things you feel shameful of in your past. We beat ourselves up more than anyone else ever could, so stop being so hard on yourself. One of my biggest lessons in recovery has been that there is nothing we can do about it now, so it’s best to right your wrong to the best of your ability at this time while accepting full accountability.

You may find that these things we feel such guilt and shame over others don’t even remember happening. It took me a long time to realize that things were never ever as bad as I thought them to be. Live in this moment RIGHT NOW and discover what you can do to feel good in this moment without using substances. This mindset was the beginning of my life transformation. Shadow work played a big part, and if you are interested in a free shadow work prompt journal, check out this post and get you one.

If this post resonated with you, if you have any tips that will help others in their journey of self-care, or if you know some things about self-care, please let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to like, share, subscribe, register, and visit our support forums here. Please also be sure to follow me on all the channels. (I don’t ask much, do I?) Please know that you are not alone. I am here whenever you are ready to make the necessary changes. You can reach me at [email protected]. I have said it many times before, and I will never stop saying it because it’s true. If I can rack up seven years of recovery from IV heroin, ANYONE can, especially you. I care, and that is why I am here. I want to help. Think about it.

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I got my Muse 2 about 18 months ago, and I don’t meditate without it. If you are like me and suffer from ADHD, this can benefit you in many ways. It helps me know where I need to be for the best and most benefits of a regular meditation practice. It tells you what state you are in while you are wearing it. I also love the app. They have tons of meditation audios, and they have this really cool feature where you can choose to hear a sound that tells you when you reach beneficial states. I often choose to hear birds, so when I get to Alpha or Theta brain waves, I will hear a gentle set of bird sounds mixed in with the meditation I am listening to. This lets me know when I am doing something right so I can continue to build on that. This headband has quickly become one of my most essential tools for higher consciousness.

*This is an affiliate product. Please see the full affiliate disclosure at the top of the page.*

HiMirror is an awesome company that has created a few different lines of smart beauty mirrors. Yes, smart beauty mirrors. I have a model than this one, but they all share the same features. You better get ready because it is really cool. The first cool thing about these is that you can scan the bar codes of ALL your favorite beauty products into your system. You can input the purchase date, and you will get reminders for product expirations, which is very handy. It also allows you to add the date you begin using the product so that you can use the second feature I am going to share to monitor improvements since starting the product.

You monitor progress by using the face scan feature. This feature scans your face for:

• dark circles
• fine lines
• red spots
• wrinkles
• pores
• dark spots
• roughness

Himirror monitors improvements and regressions. It stores photos and measurement data. This allows us also to receive personalized advice on what we should be doing. I love watching YT beauty tutorials on the screen while I try them. It has all of the features that a computer or tablet has as well. One of the last features that I favor is that you can do makeovers or try products visually without having the products with the help of augmented reality.

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This isn’t the one that I use, but it is very similar, and these mats are amazing. They have many uses and even more benefits. This is a heating mat that can be used for pain, sleep, comfort, regeneration, optimal body temp, weight loss, circulation, improved blood sugar & cholesterol levels, a soothing environment to detoxify, manage discomfort, and many, many more. This one is awesome, too, because it comes with a storage and carry bag, and mine didn’t. If you haven’t been fortunate enough yet to explore the many benefits of crystal therapy, I highly encourage you to do so. Even if you just purchase a few polished crystals, cleanse, charge, and program them. You will be amazed.

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This system is perfect for those of us with a blind mind’s eye or Aphantasia. I can only see black in my mind. There are no images or faces in my mind. I only see blackness when I close my eyes. This includes audio and visual journeys that complement one other for the best possible benefits. I know I tend to push meditation pretty hard, but it’s not without good reason. I am blown away by the changes that took place in my life after I began meditating. That’s when the magic started happening.

*This is an affiliate product. Please see the full affiliate disclosure at the top of the page.*

This thing is absolutely amazing, especially if you have small children. You simply place it on top of the can and push a button. It proceeds to make its way around the can while you go off and throw in the pasta. It stops when it completes its journey around the can, and the edges are clean and smooth. It’s so perfect that you could actually keep what you don’t use in the can, click the top back on, and place it in the fridge until the next day. I can never go back to a normal can opener again. We actually buy this as a gift for people who are hard to shop for, and it is ALWAYS a big hit.

*This is an affiliate product. Please see the full affiliate disclosure at the top of the page.*