Managing Stress in Recovery
When someone is stressed, they experience feelings of tension, strain, and pressure. These feelings will continue to build until your body finds a release. [1] For those in recovery, it is imperative to find the right outlet to release this stress. Stress will become harmful and damaging to the body if experienced for a long period of time with no outlet. If someone doesn’t know how to handle stress in recovery, a relapse could occur. This makes it crucial to learn how to identify, address, and overcome your stress in recovery.
Why is Learning How to Manage Stress Important?
It may be surprising to hear that emotion, such as stress, can actually begin to cause damage to your overall health, including [1]
- Physical
- Emotional
- Cognitive
- Behavioral
More specifically, stress can begin to weaken your memory and immune system. It can increase your risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. [1,2] If that wasn’t concerning enough, you’re also trying to maintain your sobriety, which adds another level of pressure. All of these factors combined may make it harder to feel at ease. It is essential to your recovery to find coping mechanisms that work long term.
If you find yourself often overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, or even triggered, causing you to sway towards a possible relapse, please reach out to us for support.
What Are the Signs I’m Overstressed?
The symptoms of stress that someone experiences will vary considerably. This depends on the person and the primary source of what’s causing the stress. Stress looks different on everyone. Another thing to remember is that since it can affect all areas of your health, there are different symptoms. This could affect your body, mood, or behavior. Just a handful of these include: [2]
- Headache
- Chest Pain
- Fatigue
- Restlessness
- Lack of motivation
- Irritability
- Over or undereating
- Drug or alcohol misuse
- Social withdrawal
If you haven’t been feeling well lately or haven’t felt like yourself, it may be due to an internal conflict you haven’t considered. If stress is at the core of your decreasing health, it needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
How to Manage Your Stress in Recovery
Stress can play a huge role in someone’s initial addiction and even their relapse, no matter the length of sobriety. Since we all experience stress differently, what draws someone to relapse after experiencing an intense stressor is also unique.
Substance use can be an attempt to: [3]
- Cope with negative experiences
- Ease tension and discomfort
- Self-medicate
- Reduce withdrawal symptoms
Regardless of why someone is tempted to use, it’s crucial to realize that these urges are simply that, a temptation created from stress. Instead of masking such a toxic emotion, there are ways to cope, manage, and thrive with these unwanted feelings. This can be done by [3,4]
- Learning to listen to your body and it’s stress signals
- Prioritizing what’s important and be okay with setting some “to-dos” aside
- Welcoming your “imperfections” and celebrating what you can do
- Finding an outlet (walking, journaling, exercising) and doing them daily
- Accepting things that are out of your control
- Engaging in your favorite hobbies
- Spending time with loved ones
- Keeping a sense of humor and finding beauty in daily things
How Silver Sands Recovery Can Help
Even with the healthy coping mechanisms listed above, it can still be hard to manage your stress in recovery. At Silver Sands Recovery, we have an amazing, caring team that will be there for you every step of the way. Some of the personalized treatment programs we recommend include:
We will also provide you the tools and guidance you need to keep your sobriety intact long term. Our goal is to make sure you feel at ease and encouraged to keep pushing forward!
Get Help For Managing Stress in Recovery
If you are worried that your stress in recovery has become unmanageable or are concerned that you may relapse or start using again, please contact Silver Sands Recovery. Our staff is always one phone call away. We will provide you with a free consultation and answer any questions you may have about our programs.
You can reach us 24/7 by phone or by sending us a message anytime. Your future is waiting for you, and we’d love to help get you there!
Sources:
[1] https://www.samhsa.gov/dtac/dbhis-collections/disaster-response-template-toolkit/organizational-individual-stress-management
[2] https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2732004/
[4] https://thriveglobal.com/stories/top-psychiatrist-tips-for-relieving-stress-anxiety/?
About the author:
Lisa Waknin is the Founder and Director of Silver Sands Recovery, located in Prescott, Arizona. Lisa started Silver Sands Recovery after immersing herself in the addiction treatment world for several years to figure out what could be done differently to help her daughter and others like her to overcome addiction and stay sober. She believes in a hands-on treatment approach, which includes taking someone out of their environment, providing a 90-day program in a structured environment. During treatment, clients not only recover physically but also learn to live their life again. Lisa is a sought-after expert speaker for recovery support groups, charities, schools, communities, and companies wanting to educate themselves on the explosion of opiate and heroin abuse in our country and the best way to understand, treat, and beat it.
