Are you ready to stop the cycle of addiction and live the life you want? Recovering from opioid addiction might be the hardest thing you’ll ever do. If you don’t believe it, consider the fact that 40-60% of all people with a drug addiction relapse during recovery, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. If you want to be one of the success stories and overcome your opioid addiction, you need to take care of your whole self during the recovery journey.

Self care is more than a trending term. It’s about living a lifestyle that looks after all aspects of your well-being: physical, social, emotional, and mental. It’s not about spa days and vacations, although they can be part of your self-care plan. It’s about giving your body and mind the tools they need to conquer life’s challenges. And when you’re heading into one of life’s greatest trials, you need all the tools you can get.

Take Care of Your Body

Healthy lifestyle practices aren’t just necessary for healing the physical damages of opioid addiction. They play an important role in giving you the mental fortitude to choose sobriety day in and day out. When you fuel your body with plenty of rest and healthy, nutritious food, you will have the energy to fight opioid cravings and make good choices. Do not forget staying active! As a natural pain reliever, stress reducer, and mood booster, exercise is one of the most powerful tools you possess in addiction recovery.

Don’t Expect Perfection

Recovery is hard. Not just getting sober, but also mending broken relationships, rebuilding finances, searching for employment, and navigating the social world. Setting unrealistic goals and timelines for rebuilding your life is only setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment—two emotions that could trigger a relapse. While it is good to have goals, keep them attainable. Accept that the journey will be difficult.

Get Mental Health Treatment

Mental health problems and drug addiction often go hand-in-hand. Many people turn to drugs as a coping mechanism for mental health issues. Others develop feelings of depression and hopelessness as a result of their addiction. Either way, staying sober requires treating ongoing mental health issues like depression.

Get help from a mental health counselor, use exercise to promote positive moods, and seek support from people who care. Even just spending time with a pet can make a world of difference when you’re feeling isolated and unhappy.

Arm Yourself with Positive Affirmations

There will be moments during recovery when you have no faith in your ability to succeed. Your efforts may seem pointless and doomed to failure. You can’t let yourself give in to the toxic thoughts invading your brain. Instead, banish them by reciting positive affirmations that reinforce your self-worth and reasons for getting sober.

Lean on Your Support System

It’s important to have support from people who care about your recovery success. Unfortunately, if your addiction has damaged relationships with family and friends, people you can lean on may be few and far between. If you’re not getting the support you need from family and friends, addiction recovery support groups are a great place to share your story and find encouragement. You can join local support groups as well as find support online. RenewEveryday.com offers advice on finding online support groups.

Heading into addiction recovery is like preparing for battle—if you’re going to make it through, you need your body and mind to be in peak condition. That’s not to say you should wait before starting recovery, but you do need to make self-care a priority from the start. Only then can you conquer recovery and come out of drug addiction ready to live your full potential!

This blog was guest-written by Adam Cook from AddictionHub.org. Adam started AddictionHub.org after losing a friend to substance abuse and suicide. He is interested in helping people find the necessary resources to save their lives from addiction. AddictionHub.org locates and catalogs such resources.

Article image via Unsplash.