How to Create a Self Care Plan for Recovering Drug Addicts

It’s very important to take care of yourself now that you are clean and sober and working hard on your recovery.  Focusing on yourself, especially in early recovery, can be vital to your success.  Recovering from addiction is hard work; it takes a lot of mental focus, it can be emotionally and physically draining, and people in recovery need to recommit to their health and their future every day.  It can be truly exhausting in many ways, and all in recovery from addiction need to recognize that and act accordingly in ways that optimize their health and happiness.

It’s often said that addiction is, in some ways, a disorder of self-centeredness and selfishness, and the new you certainly doesn’t want to be either of those things anymore.  However, although it may seem to you to be selfish to focus on yourself first and foremost, it’s very important that you do just that.  The bottom line is this: you simply have to help yourself before you can be of any good to others.   There is a big difference between being the self-centered person you were when you were using drugs or drinking, and taking care if yourself so you can offer the best you to the people that you love.  By practicing self-care every single day, you can continue to improve, heal, and put your best foot forward in all situations.

Creating a Self-Care Plan

It’s important that you actually create a Self-Care Plan to refer to during difficult times.  If you follow the plan you set forth and stick to it, you may actually find that the difficult times become fewer and farther between, and you start to feel better and more together on the whole.   In creating this plan, be sure to address all areas: you will surely face physical difficulties, experience emotionally and psychologically trying times, and encounter social obstacles as well.  Write down a list of things you can do to remedy problems in each of these areas as they arise, and also include new habits you can create to keep positive and healthy on all fronts.  Set goals, and take steps to get there.  Refer back to your list periodically and make sure you are covering all areas of self-care; if you find you are feeling unbalanced, something is likely missing from your plan.  Here are a few suggestions to get you started on a healthy and productive Self-Care Plan.

Physical Self-Care

Emotional/Psychological Self-Care

Social Self-Care

Although it would be great to immediately incorporate each and every one of these suggestions into your life, it is probably impossible to add them all at once!  Therefore, create your Self-Care Plan from just a few of these to start.  Over time, slowly add a few more, and a few more still.  Keep the options that you like and that you feel add value to your life, and refer back to the list periodically anytime you feel that something is missing.

Again, although focusing on yourself may feel selfish in some ways, it is really something that is important for all of us.  By practicing self-care, you will feel better, and as a result, you will have more to offer to the world, and will also be more likely to stay on the healthy and happy path to recovery.

At Transcend Clinic, we would love to help to get you on the path to recovery so that you can start feeling better soon! Our intake specialists are standing by, waiting to hear from you, to discuss ibogaine and ibogaine treatment at our facility in Cancun, Mexico.  Please give us a call today to discuss your specific situation and to learn about the ways we can work together with you to help take back your life.

Skip to content