SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information - View Single Post

05-01-2017, 08:02 AM

# 3 (permalink)

FireSprite

Member

Join Date: May 2012

Location: Florida

Posts: 6,780

This is my favorite recovery sub-topic - I'm NOT shy about prioritizing my self care. Not any longer at least.

My self-care looks a lot different now than it did in my earliest days of trying though - I was much like you describe, where my physical health had started to erode due to the stress & neglect. At that point I had to focus on restoring health first - starting with a checkup with my docs & all getting all necessary bloodwork/testing caught up & my meds adjusted. (thyroid) I also consulted with an acupuncturist every 90 days for 2 years as part of my treatment because it really helped me, along with regular massage therapy, yoga & eventually, reiki.

I had to bring my focus back to the basics - eating well, sleeping regularly & restfully, drinking water, getting my vitamins & minerals in addition to my meds, lol. I started trying meditation but it took a while for me to get to a point where it "fit" - I needed to get these other building blocks in place first.

Now my self care still includes all of those things but having moved out of the "Critical" category for most of it there's time & energy for things like nights out with friends, pedicures, facials, reflexology foot massages, acupuncture for maintenance of health vs. "fixing", lots of yoga & walking, I've become a real Meditator, I take classes or attend seminars when they strike me, I'm looking into joining a local gym, etc. Even just doing a lot of DIY stuff (I rarely PAY for a pedicure, lol) matters because you are setting time aside for YOU. You are making time to develop a relationship with your Self & over time, it matters a lot.

There have been so many amazing self-care threads, I'm going to do what I do best & link you up instead of trying to remember every point