Coping Skills for Women in Drug or Alcohol Recovery (Part II)

Coping skills are essential for a woman in addiction recovery. Life is full of change and adjustment, and a good set of coping skills can keep you on track through it all. Here’s another set of critical skills you need to stay sober during recovery.

Keep Your Body and Mind Healthy

When your body doesn’t feel good, it’s tough for your mood to stay up. Bad sleep, a poor diet, and lots of stress can make you feel really run down. When this happens, you tend to feel irritable and impatient. This process can snowball if you don’t make some changes. You can easily start seeking the quick-fix comfort of drugs and alcohol when you feel like this.

Don’t set yourself up for relapse with unhealthy habits. Create a realistic daily schedule that allows for plenty of sleep. Make healthy food choices and get the junk food out of your house. If you need help figuring out your diet, call your drug rehab center, your doctor, or a friend who can teach you to cook. Make time every day for physical exercise. Exercise will help you feel stronger, boost your mood, and help your sleep.

Update Your Recovery Plan As Your Life Changes

Recovery plans are only good if they still make sense in your daily life. You are not going to be the same person between day one of your recovery and day 365. You’ll change one way or another, and your recovery plan needs to change with you.

As time passes, you may need more, less, or simply different kinds of support. When you update your recovery plan on a regular basis, you make sure your sobriety is always in forward motion.

Stay Connected With Other Women in Recovery

When you are in addiction recovery, a build-up of emotional distress can feel overwhelming. Women in recovery tend to isolate themselves when they are feeling an overload. Fear and uncertainty don’t have to shut you down. Resist the urge to hide from the world. Call just one person you trust to pull you out of it.

Get with your network of sober women and get the natural mood lift you need. These ladies have all had struggles during their recovery, and they will help you through yours. Someday, you’ll be the one who helps another woman through her tough times. Women in recovery are each other’s best supporters.

Getting Through Addiction Recovery

You can make it through the ups and down of addiction recovery. Keep yourself healthy, update your recovery plan, and always stay connected with other women in recovery. These essential coping skills can make the difference between relapse and sobriety.