My Recovery Plan
 

I'm typing out the handwritten notes I wrote about a month or six weeks ago. I was afraid I'd lost them but today I found the page still in the notebook where I'd written everything. I'm typing everything exactly as I hand-wrote it but am adding some formatting.

GENERAL SELF-CARE
-- Improved eating habits (meatless Monday, leafy greens (salad!) 3X per week)
-- Exercise: at least 30 mins. 5X per week
-- Set weight-loss goals
-- Go to the doctor and dentist
-- One night TV-free each week

STAYING SOBER
-- Reading and posting at SR DAILY (social support)
-- Reading The Fix recovery website multiple times per week
-- Group counseling?
-- Buy two books for recovery library
-- Go to meeting with [sister] -- gets family involved in my sobriety plan!

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
-- Keep a clean apartment -- work out a daily/weekly cleaning schedule
-- Never get more than one load behind in laundry

SERVICE
-- Volunteering at soup kitchen

This is just as I wrote it several weeks ago. It needs to be fleshed out and actually finalized.

I thought if it might be a template or a starting place for others' recovery plans, we could all benefit.

I'm inviting any and all suggestions for specific ideas or larger areas I've overlooked here -- fire away for my benefit and for everyone else's, please. Don't hold back!

this is a great plan so far! i love the idea of a TV free day (although my problem is more my phone or laptop and not so much TV). any screen time really triggers me to drink.

i would love to include some of these into my plan as well.

Looks good, MeSo. I especially like the plan to go to a weekly meeting with your sister. Accountability is very good. Sometimes another person can prod us to
do things that we really, really want to just skip. Hopefully having someone actively involved with your recovery will prevent you from slipping through the cracks.

Good effort, MSS

Good ideas. Some of what you mention (ie go to dentist) is one-time, just starting stuff we need to do when quitting (and in general to be healthy people). Some of it is ongoing- self-care, rest and varying our time from rec and work is all important. Just curious- have you been sober since you started with this list?

IME and IMO, all of this stuff needs to supplement- and come after and secondary- to a IRL recovery program. Mine is AA and at 9 months, I still (sidenote: I say "still" but I consider myself in early sobriety, so this also has a double meaning of "plan to continue") attend 4-6 meetings most weeks (and when low, like last week at 2, step it up the next), and about 1-2 hours of specific recovery work each day. So, more than one meeting and just one reliant on another person's involvement (for me, my companion is my bf and we do a lunch and a meeting once a week, but I go to my total number regardless of his schedule because my recovery and my attendance supercede anyone else's participation).

Also....I can let a couple of loads of laundry go or not fold all the towels and that is a-ok- it doesn't impact my recovery. I've learned what is important to me as far as keeping a tidy place, for example, and that's good, and it also matters way little or nil compared to my mindset and focus on sobriety. Again, all this kind of "stuff" is good but secondary, or even tertiary (if I only run once a week, but keep my work shifts at the restaurant a full schedule, that's fine for now), to my sobriety.

What program are you working? What type of counseling and for how long (you mention group but not specifics)? What about individual therapy (I am on meds and do a session with my pysch for that check up and for talking, now every 2-3 months but at first every 3 weeks or so)?

Good luck!

* Don't drink again, ever.
Biggest part of the plan :)

Nice on this early morning 5:58 AM to see someone putting some serious thought into their Recovery Program.

Stick with it and you won't miss the staying sober mark.

M-Bob

Your plan sounds very good and I think it's great you have put effort into making one. The only thing I might add is to spend some quiet time with yourself. At least for me, I had to reconnect with my soul and I had to learn to listen to it. :)

😦

Too much!

How will you feel if you don't/can't accomplish one of these goals?

Just me, but I'm overwhelmed just looking at your plan.

Good for you though, many people do their best when under pressure. 😊

well, I like a detailed plan :)

If it is too much - and we can all have good weeks and not so good ones - just make sure you're not skimping on the staying sober part - that bit's essential IMO - it's the hub of the wheel :)

D

Looks good to me, MeSo. Give it a go, and adjust as needed.

I too feel overwhelmed just looking at that plan!
All wonderful things I would like to do also.
But I always end up failing when I take on too much.
Good Luck!! Wishing you the best..

I think that's good advice.
I've adjusted the heck out of mine over the years.
Adding this site daily has become of most importance.
Good luck,
M-Bob

Just for what it's worth, I do work full-time but have about a three-minute commute, no kids and zero other demands on my time. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, so no big house to clean or yardwork or anything.

The physical exercise, at 2 1/2 hours per week, is the biggest. Although I did specify reading and posting at SR daily (critical for me, I'd say), that might not amount to more than 15 minutes or so.

I really should have more than enough time to do what I've set out for myself, though I appreciate that some of you think it's ambitious! :cool2:

Thank you everyone for the feedback and suggestions. I hope all of the discussion helps others put together a plan too.

I agree with the idea of a TV free day. one of my recent books talked of scheduling days to" be with god" this is something i have been striving to achieve
Books have helped me alot in recovery from basic texts to different spiritual and self help books.


some of the things i wanted in the beginning were recovery jewelry, even those little rubber bands( kinda like the livestrong ones) might seem silly but i thought having those would help keep my mind on recovery( the one i have now has the serenity prayer on it.)

i dont push religion or god on anyone but starting to pray( on my knees) and meditate on whatever is out there helped me alot i felt my higher power had left me. I probably seem like a crazy person stopping to talk to myself but im sober.

best wishes

Having your sister involved is a great idea/motivation. I had multiple failed attempts to quit, but the time it really clicked was when I just had a sit-down with my now-ex and knew I would need to be accountable to her in addition to myself.

This site also played a very vital role in the early stages, because you see and read about so many situations and know that others are going through the same thing. I don't visit here often these days - I am happy to say I reached four years sober this past Saturday - but in those first 6-12 months, it really was a needed support group. Even if I wasn't posting, I was reading daily.

This is a strong plan, and I wish you the best. Just remember that things you can't control can sometimes throw a wrench in the best laid plans. However, one thing you ALWAYS control is whether or not you let those unexpected wrenches steer you to drink. Stick with it, and the future is bright!

This should top your sobriety plan.

plans are for winners

Looks like a good plan!! You can do this!! :scoregood

I heard back from our local soup kitchen and am scheduled to volunteer from 9 AM to 1 PM New Year's Eve. They originally asked me to come in Dec. 17, but just this past Sunday I told my "senior," who I was matched up with through a volunteer program where I used to live in Fredericksburg, that I would come see her and take her out that weekend.

Now to suggest an AA meeting with my sister . . .

Still encouraging anyone who has suggestions to make them, or to post their own recovery plans!