5 Amazing Life Habits I embraced after Recovery
by Carl Towns
Recovering from drug addiction wasn’t easy and I still face challenges each day.
However, success is not always achieved overnight and it can take even decades to reach the point of true satisfaction. When I started to realize that my old habits were not going to work in my new life, I began researching and trying out new ways that work for me.
Every individual is different but here are 5 things I learned to embrace after my recovery that I’d love to share with you:
1 Enjoying time with myself
Whether you are going through recovery or not, a habit that most of us fail to embrace in our lives, is to enjoy some downtime or, as I love to call it, some “me” time.
What do you enjoy doing? Start off by doing one small thing that you love to do and learn to blend it in with your day.
Not only will it help to create a new peace of mind, but it’ll help to refocus your life and you’ll begin to feel positive about yourself. Whether it’s something simple such as pumping music through headphones and going for a walk or getting out of your comfort zone and doing something by yourself like going to watch a movie or going to a concert, be sure to allocate some time each day for you and embrace your self-confidence as it grows.
2 Setting goals each day
Most of us have goals. It could be to achieve something professionally or in life itself. No matter what is it, goals help move us towards the set direction.
While long-term goals do give us some form of direction, it’s the goals that we set every day that become the core of our new success.
Long term goals can be overwhelming at first, learning how to plan 10 years in advance can be a frightening thought for some. What I learned to be very productive, was setting a daily goal strategy; it helped me focus on my real-life, day to day situations.
I will give you an example, maybe you want to work on your exercise routine… Today set a goal that you want to run for 30 minutes. When you work your way up to it and feel comfortable, switch the goal of running for 30 minutes to 35 minutes all the way up each week until it hits 60!
You’ll learn the satisfaction that comes with completing goals. And will help you to become one of those people who is motivated by their success, rather than turned off by it.
3 Exercising
As an ex addict, moving around for something different than getting my next drink or fix was unthinkable.
Slowly but surely, my recovery process taught me how to re-channel the energy I had into productive healthy habits. In my case, exercise was a wonderful way out.
Through exercise, I found amazing benefits for my recovery process and myself. First, I started to regain the self-esteem and embrace the self-confidence I had lost.
I started to look better on the outside, and to be much better on the inside. My social group expanded to healthy and good people that pushed me to be better and test my limits.
As a switch control for my stress and anxiety, it was just marvelous. Anytime I would reach the point where the tension I was feeling was tempting me to relapse, I just went out to exercise and forgot all about my addiction.
In addition, it helped me sleep soundly, something extremely difficult (and incredibly important) when you are recovering from addiction.
4 Learning something new
Education is one of the greatest tools that we’ve been given as humans.
Commit to improving your life by learning a new skill or by enhancing existing skills that you already have.
Have you always wanted to learn a foreign language? Apps like Duolingo are a great beginning step to achieving that goal.
Are you good at taking photos? Google free photography courses and learn how to expand that skill even more.
The importance of this habit is essential to a healthier, brighter you. Turn on that documentary subcategory on your Netflix today and start learning!
5 Smile!
Making smiling a habit will make you a happier person without any doubt. By simply placing a smile on your face you are creating a new habit that allows you to find emotional, mental and spiritual peace of mind. How good does that sound!
It takes more energy to frown than it is to smile and your inner feelings will eventually begin to show on the outside.
Whether you are 10 years sober, 2 months sober, or just looking towards bringing a positive change into your life, it’s important to embrace new habits that can transform your life into the bright future that it’s destined to be!
Do you have a tip that helped you that we haven’t mentioned? Leave a comment below and let us know. We’d love to hear about it!
Carl Towns is a 28-year-old wanna-be writer; He is also a recovering addict in the path of self-discovery. His goal is to learn as many things as possible and to seize every single moment he lives…Pretty much trying to make up for all that he missed on the years he was lost in drugs and alcohol (among other things). He is in love with tech, cars and pretty much anything that can be found online.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect all or some of our beliefs and policy. Any links on this page do not necessarily mean they have been endorsed by Defying Mental Illness.
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