Balancing work and recovery can be difficult. Not only can work be stressful, but a failure to manage stress levels can increase cravings or urges to abuse drugs to cope with that stress, which runs the risk of jeopardizing your recovery. However, if you are a recovering addict, you don’t have to choose between work or your road to recovery. In this article, you’ll learn how balancing work and recovery is possible so you can maintain your everyday life and responsibilities, without jeopardizing your recovery journey.
At Sequoia Recovery Centers, we are a top-rated addiction treatment center that’s committed to helping as many patients as possible safely and effectively overcome addiction. Our compassionate team is here to help you every step of the way. With several addiction treatment services available, patients receive the right care for their unique recovery needs.
Ready to start your recovery journey? Contact us today!
How to Balance Work with Recovery
Your everyday life and responsibilities don’t just stop as you seek addiction recovery treatment and beyond. Below are several ways you can balance work and recovery so you can lead a healthier, happier life.
- Prioritize Your Recovery
First, it’s important to understand that just because you have overcome addiction doesn’t mean you won’t be faced with triggers that may jeopardize your sobriety. Therefore, it’s important to continue to prioritize your recovery journey, even after you finish receiving professional treatment to overcome your addiction.
One way you can continue to prioritize your recovery as you go back to work after treatment is by attending weekly support groups.
- Set Boundaries Early
Next, in order to balance work and your recovery, you need to set boundaries early so you can maintain a healthy work-life balance. Otherwise, failure to effectively establish boundaries for work early on in your recovery journey can easily lead to increased stress which can increase your risk of relapse.
It’s important to also communicate those boundaries, if needed, to your workplace to ensure you both are on the same page. For example, rather than being angry that your workplace is making you work overtime, set boundaries and communicate with your employer effectively about any work boundaries you may have.
- Manage Stress Levels
Stress is inevitable; however, how you handle work stress and how much stress you experience can impact your recovery journey. Therefore, a critical way to balance work and recovery is to be able to manage your stress levels to a healthy limit. While this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experience any stress at work as some days will be more stressful than others, this does not mean you should be so stressed that you are falling back into old habits, like abusing drugs or alcohol, to try and relieve your stress levels.
Plus, try and incorporate healthy coping strategies before or after work to help lower stress levels and support your recovery. For example, try working out before/after work to try and relieve stress.
- Build a Healthy Support System
You should never feel like you have to progress on your recovery journey all on your own. It’s important you build a healthy support system of friends, family members, mentors, and more you can turn to as you progress along your recovery journey. Whether you need to vent about a bad day at work or need further support with your recovery, your support system is there to help you every step of the way on your road to recovery.
- Take Care of Your Physical & Mental Health
Finally, when it comes to balancing work and recovery, you need to be taking care of your physical and mental health. Otherwise, if your physical and mental wellness are not being taken care of consistently, you run the risk of falling back into old unhealthy habits to relieve work stress, such as abusing drugs or alcohol.
Help Is Available
While balancing work and recovery can be challenging, there are many ways you can effectively balance each. From managing work stress in a healthy way to setting boundaries early when it comes to creating a work-life balance, you should never have to choose between maintaining a healthy life and your work.
At Sequoia Recovery Centers, we offer a comprehensive range of treatment programs and options so you can receive the right care for your unique recovery needs. No two recovery journeys are ever the same. That’s why we offer tailored support so you can break free of addiction once and for all. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you overcome addiction.
