Maintaining Self-Care Routines as an Alumnus

Self-care is an important part of the recovery process. It is equally as important for alumni in recovery to continue engaging in effective self-care routines even after they have navigated the complexities of a detox or residential treatment program. 

Addiction is a disease that affects an individual for the rest of their lives. Constant attention, dedication, and care are needed to maintain the transformative strides made throughout professional treatment programs. However, it can be easy to get lost in the stresses of transitioning back to “real life” and the workplace challenges, relationship complexities, and more that come with it. 

Self-care is essential for navigating not just the stresses of recovery and overcoming addiction but rather for overcoming stress of any kind. Alumni face their own set of unique stresses, each of which can further inform the prevalence or intensity of urges and cravings that may influence sobriety outside the recovery facility. Continuing to develop new self-care routines and transpose effective practices from a person’s time in residential to their life outside of the treatment facility can all help tend to each individual’s personal needs while adhering to sober goals. 

Just because an individual has successfully incorporated the skills necessary to transition to life outside of residential treatment does not mean that they will be without stress. Rather, it means that each individual has the foundation and resources necessary to identify and challenge new and old stresses alike, with self-care being a core part of this transition. 

It can be impossible to predict how new stresses may manifest, from workplace stresses and peers to creating new financial budgets, repairing relationships, and exploring new personal outlets in a person’s sober identity. Self-care provides a consistent outlet to process challenges at any point in each person’s recovery. 

Self-care will always be a personal endeavor. In other words, no two people will necessarily have the same routines or benefit from the same practices. Exploring each individual’s unique approach to self-care is necessary for continued success in sobriety and for reaching each person’s next sober milestone. Alumni have many resources and strategies they can use to continue focusing on self-care routines while managing the responsibilities of daily life outside of a treatment facility.

Residential treatment programs and outpatient care are often very structured in their approach to recovery and sobriety. However, these structures can also be exceptionally beneficial even outside of this recovery setting. Many treatment programs utilize these rigid schedules with specific intentions in mind. Keeping effective practices consistent both inside and outside of a treatment facility can promote a healthy approach to continued sobriety. 

Maintaining mealtimes consistent with a person’s time in residential treatment, similar bedtime routines, or other schedules can all create a feeling of consistency and normalcy outside of a treatment facility while continuing to benefit from these structures. Likewise, incorporating particularly effective therapeutic techniques from treatment as foundations for a schedule outside of a treatment facility can also be beneficial, such as continuing to use meditation, spiritual practices, or other strategies. 

Communities provide many benefits for each person’s developing sober lifestyle and identity, helping an individual feel connected to peers and focused on a common goal. Effective self-care routines involve peer support, especially as an alumnus. 

Whether an individual is engaged in dedicated recovery communities at our Hawaii recovery center, with personal hobby groups or local outlets, or a combination therein, these communities can provide new spaces to tend to personal and social needs while overcoming the challenges pervasive across every stage of recovery. Even regular communication with others, whether through text, email, or online groups, can further a person’s engagement in these communities and facilitate a sense of belonging.

Setting effective goals is a skill on its own throughout the journey to a sober life. Having regular weekly goals can help alumni continue to focus on their own needs. Committing to trying one new outlet a week or engaging in effective self-care routines on a regular basis should be celebrated. Weekly goals can help an individual better focus on each of these dimensions of their life in equal measure, ensuring that self-care routines retain the same importance and focus even amidst busy schedules or other responsibilities. 

There are many forms self-care can take. While some may like to get out and enjoy a particular activity, self-care can also be tending to a person’s needs for relaxation. Watching a movie, writing, painting, and more are all great ways for an individual to further explore their own interests. Seeing these small, daily activities as essential for managing emotional health and needs is crucial for placating stresses that may otherwise impact a person’s hard-earned sobriety. Supports and peers alike can always get involved in these daily expresses of healthy living. 

Self-care will always be an important component of a healthy life, and we at Hawaii Island Recovery are committed to helping you embrace the most effective self-care strategies as an alumnus for a continued, healthy and fulfilling life. By helping you explore new outlets and strategies to encouraging the use of proven outlets, the professionals and peers at Hawaii Island Recovery can be an amazing resource for your continued success in sobriety. Whether visiting our Hawaii recovery center or communicating with us for continued support outside our walls, we are always prepared to help you explore your best self-care outlets in daily life. For more information on how we can help you, call to speak to us at (866) 390-5070.