During this time of social distancing, staying connected to your recovery can feel harder than ever. One of the most important things for those in recovery is the ability to stay connected with healthy habits and healthy relationships in their lives. New and continued Covid-19 restrictions inevitably put limitations on connectivity, which raises stress and anxiety for those in recovery.
Sounding familiar?
Even with social distancing, you can still stay connected to your recovery. You don’t have to and shouldn’t go at it alone. The following tips are here to remind you of ways to get creative with your connectivity to those healthy habits and relationships while still respecting Covid-19 restrictions.
3 Tips To Help You Stay Connected To Your Recovery
1. Always Keep Your Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Health At the Top of Your Priorities
Allow your spiritual health to be the foundation of your well-being. When you are spiritually well, your mental health escalates. When you are mentally well, you are more apt to taking care of yourself physically.
It all works hand-in-hand, really.
The main thing is that you check in with yourself every single day. Make your spiritual, mental, and physical health a priority by consciously tending to them every day. There are many different ways you can do this, including:
- Journal prompts
- Meditation
- Stretching
- Exercising
- Getting out in nature
- Learning to cook or learning new recipes
- Getting enough rest
- The music you listen to
- The media you consume
- How much water you drink
- Cleaning and organizing
- Starting or keeping up with a hobby
The list goes on.
For some, a key factor in maintaining their mental health is interacting with other people. They feed off of that live human connection, which is why mental well-being can feel threatened and attacked during this time.
If this is you, you must find ways to feed off that energy from a distance. However, with America not on strict lockdown anymore, this is a bit easier. Take the necessary safety precautions as suggested by the CDC but make plans with family and friends! Even if you just go to a park, sit six feet apart on a bench, and watch the birds for hours.
Get creative with your time and connections!
2. Get Creative With Your Routine and Stick To It
For many, their well-being thrives from creating a routine. Social distancing may have caused you to evaluate that routine a little, but as long as you can creatively come up with different ways to maintain your spiritual, mental, and physical health, you should handle the change in routine just fine.
You might even realize that changing your routine up every now and then is better for your well-being anyway. Sometimes, when we have the same routine for too long, it can feel stagnant and end up causing us more grief than happiness. It is your responsibility to recognize when you start to feel a lack of motivation, boredom, or apathy. When feelings like these arise, it may be time for a routine change regardless of social distancing!
3. Be Mindful of Your Actions
Remaining mindful also translates to owning and taking responsibility for your actions. If you are having mental health issues regarding your recovery, what actions are you taking to help yourself? What actions aren’t you taking?
It is up to you to keep your recovery a top priority, and part of that is having the ability to call yourself out when you aren’t making the best or healthiest choices for your spiritual, mental, and physical well-being.
Also, note what makes you happy and at peace during this time. Remember those actions and thoughts. Write them down. Repeat them and see how they make you feel the second or third time. If you find something new that brings you peace and joy, consider implementing it into your daily or weekly routine.
In other words, don’t be afraid to experiment! That’s the fun part of being creative with your recovery. Allowing yourself the space to make mistakes will only help you progress in your recovery journey.
You can’t continue to grow and get to know yourself if you never try anything new. Just because creating a routine is great for those in recovery doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t change that routine.
It is all connected. As long as each step you take, each thought you have, and article you read either teaches you something about yourself or your recovery journey, you are doing something right. The best way to stay connected to your recovery is to stay connected to you.
And of course, never be afraid to ask for help! Keep your support system closer than ever during these times and reach out to them, even if it’s just to tell them about a cool new breakthrough. Your support system wants to hear it all, the good and the bad!