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Stress can cause you to relapse

 

We all experience stress, but it can be detrimental to our recovery to reduce the overwhelming stress. Here are several ways you can reduce stress in your life.

1.      Practice meditation. All you need is 5 minutes a day to start with your meditation practice. It's all about consistency. It's kind of like going to the gym. It is more beneficial to go to the gym several times a week and work out for half an hour than going once a week and working out for two hours. Meditation practice consists of anything from self-guided meditation to listening to music or listening to Mother Nature. It helps to focus on your breathing and allow yourself just to be. It is perfectly normal for your mind to wander. When it does, just gently and nonjudgmentally bring it back to your breath. That is the exercise. Meditation is the practice of your mind wandering, and you bringing it back to the present moment. When your mind is at ease, it is less likely to be stressed. If you practice meditation regularly, then when you do become stressed, you will be able to utilize that meditation at that moment to lessen stressful emotions.

2.      Gratitude lists. They say a grateful heart will never drink. When I feel stressed out, it's usually over things I cannot control or change. When I remind myself of the things that I have in my life that I'm grateful for, the stress dissipates. This actually brings me to the third one, acceptance.

3.      Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. It is stated in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous that acceptance is the key. And when I find something unacceptable to me, it usually stresses me out until I accept what is and what is not and let go, or if I can change what is or what is not, then I get off my rump and do something. But complaining about it does me no good. The only thing that complaining does for me is bring on stress!

4.     Do not assume. You know what they say about assumptions. And I'll add more, because we don't really know what other people are going through at any given time. And so when we get upset with someone else's behavior, it might help to either ask questions if it's someone significant in our life or just give them the benefit of the doubt that they're having a bad day and mean you know ill harm. This could be a good segue into learning how to communicate in a healthy way which I speak quite a bit on and have a course exclusively for. But for right now, I'll just say that a lot of miscommunication is because of assumptions. So practicing this one skill can alleviate a lot of stress!

5.     And not to overwhelm you, but I'll add just one more suggestion on how to reduce stress: time management. Learning how to plan your day and avoid distractions takes practice but has been a lifesaver for me. It helps with getting what I need done and not stressing about getting it done. Learning how to prioritize what is important and say no to what is not has been crucial to my life.

I continue to learn and practice all of these skills. I have become more motivated, less overwhelmed, and happy with my life. Over the years, I have tried many ways to live life in recovery and have failed numerous times. Each time I didn't realize the importance of these skills. I thought going to meetings and doing the steps would save me. And although going to meetings was a great start for me, I had found my growth began when I started to utilize what I had learned from various programs - AA, refuge recovery, smart recovery, CBT, NLP, and now DBT as well as the psychology courses I have been taking for the past few years. I am so enthusiastic about my recovery and my life that I wish to help people achieve the same. That is why I have developed a program for living that incorporates all of these skills and more. If you are interested in reducing the overwhelm in your life, email me at doreen@recoveryenthusiast.com. I have been where you are, and I know the way out!

 

 

Like my posts? Please follow me on Facebook or Instagram under Recovery Enthusiast. I also have a podcast on Anchor and Spotify under Motivations 4U. I'm also on YouTube; you can follow my journey. And if you really can't get enough of me, you can check out my courses on recoveryenthusiast.com as well as mastermind.com 

 

As always, stay blessed and live your life Enthusiastically!!


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  1. Workplace Mental Health InstituteSeptember 2, 2022 at 3:01 PM

    You have worked pleasantly with your bits of knowledge. Bunches of significant information can be taken from your article. Truly it is a huge article for us.Mental Health Wellbeing Courses Online

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