Finding Joy through Healthy Habits

Finding Joy through Healthy Habits – Recovery is full of changes, some will be simple, others will try your nerves for days on end. How you approach these good and bad days can help determine whether you manage to stay in recovery long term. This is why it is so important to create healthy habits that can bring you joy on the toughest of days. It may be that addiction once brought you joy, but healthier options are now much more important.

Recovery, especially the early stages can be stressful, but if you can find joy then you are more likely to make it into long term recovery. There are some ways to help find joy in recovery. If you use these tips and techniques than getting and staying clean and sober then they will become habit and bring joy throughout your life. Not all tips will work for everyone and as with any change you must adapt tips to fit your personal needs. The goal is to find healthy ways to relax and stay focused on recovery even when the day, week, or month, is going poorly. Read on and try some of the following techniques to make recovery a bit easy through joyful practices.

Start by focusing on your strengths, not weaknesses. It is easy to get bogged down in all you have done or cannot yet do when in early recovery. But you are making steps in the right direction. Focus on what you can do and are doing that is good so you can be the best you that you can be in life. You are so much more than your addiction. Whilst that may be the focus at the moment, hold tight to the other things in life you do well. As you are trying to stay positive, surround yourself with positive people. These people will both help you stay positive and focused on staying in recovery. It is hard to be unhappy around positive people.

Learn how to manage your stress. Each person handles stress differently and can handle different types and amounts of stress. Learn what you can handle and how to handle it in a healthy manner. If you need to make a daily checklist, schedule, or find help then do so. As part of this stress management, practice self-awareness. Know yourself and your reactions to different types of stress so you may be prepared ahead of time. This should include your whole self including thoughts, reactions, and physical states.

When you have the chance, try something new. You may find a new way to relax or learn something important. When these good times and opportunities come along, savor them. Sometimes finding something good once an hour, no matter how small, can make a huge difference. Finally, be grateful and count your blessings, big and small, as the good things will get you through the tough times. Finding joy can be as simple as watching a movie if you choose to find joy in the small things. What will you do to keep joy as part of your recovery journey?

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