Deciding to engage in addiction recovery is a significant step in taking care of your mind and body. You’ve chosen to become healthy and leave behind the harm caused by substance abuse. However, ending your substance abuse habits is difficult and places a lot of pressure on your entire physical being. Engaging in self-care while you’re in a therapy program helps you deal with the effects of withdrawal. It also allows you to reorganize your thinking and gives you an outlet when life becomes overwhelming. To learn more about self-care and how it fits into addiction recovery, call Bayview Recovery today at 855.478.3650.
What is Self-Care?
Self-care is the conscious decision to do something nice for yourself that you might not otherwise consider. Some might call it pampering or spoiling oneself because the goal is to do something purely for yourself and no one else. However, the purpose of self-care is not about spoiling so much as it’s giving yourself a much-needed break from stress. Self-care can include:
- Taking a short vacation
- Getting a massage
- Using PTO from work
- Creating an exercise routine
- Improving your wardrobe
- Engaging in regular sleep habits
Physical Self-Care Makes You Feel Better About Yourself
There’s no getting around the fact that addiction takes a toll on the body. You may feel sick or wrung out between periods of using drugs or alcohol. In turn, you become convinced that the only way you’re going to feel better again is to use your substance of choice. The area of the brain that drives addiction will do everything it can to convince you to use substances, regardless of the toll it takes on the body. You wind up tuning out all other thoughts of personal care because your mind is driving you to engage in drug or alcohol use.
Making the conscious decision to take better care of yourself through small actions has the purpose of showing you that you can feel better without using. Experiencing small pleasures while engaging in a therapy program will help you find new ways to feel good in a lasting fashion. Self-care also enables you to feel better about yourself.
Self-Care Offers a Break From the Mental Stress of Recovery
Entering a substance abuse rehab program is not an easy decision to make, especially with its stresses on the mind and body. The stress can reach a point where a patient relapses due to the pressure to use drugs or alcohol again. Engaging in a self-care activity while attending a therapy program for addiction recovery can reduce the need to use and lower the pressures of stress. Eventually, you learn that you don’t need to use a substance to feel better, and you have a healthy and pleasant alternative in the form of a self-care activity. The combination of self-care and a therapy program for addiction recovery may improve your outcome and give you the tools you need to stay away from substance abuse.
Contact Us at Bayview Recovery
Addiction doesn’t have to be something that takes over your life. Get in touch with us today at Bayview Recovery to learn more about how we can help you quit your addiction. We treat all types of substance abuse with an emphasis on alcohol and heroin treatment. We’re located in the Tacoma area and help patients from all walks of life who live in the pacific northwest. Bayview Recovery Center provides a whole mind and body approach to addiction, and we offer multiple types of therapy programs, such as:
- Individual therapy
- Trauma therapy
- Evening programs
- Dual diagnosis therapy
- Medication-assisted treatment
- Outpatient rehab
- Intensive outpatient rehab
Call Bayview Recovery at 855.478.3650 today to learn more about we can support you in your recovery.