Stress is a factor in most people’s lives. To various degrees and for many reasons, stress can impact just about every facet of a person’s life. When you’re facing substance use disorder (SUD) recovery, stress can be specifically problematic.
Stress-related disruptions in your addiction recovery can create a desire to seek out those substances again. That’s thanks to the deep programming changes that substances create in your brain – when stress occurs, your brain seeks out solutions to alleviate it. It remembers that in other difficult times, those substances felt good and supported a dopamine burst.
If you’ve worked this hard to recover, the last thing you want is for that rush of needing to use substances to come back. That means it’s critical to have a way to manage stress. Here are several effective strategies for stress management that work.
#1: Rely on Your Support Team
By far, the most important tool for managing stress is your support team. These are the people who are there for you when life becomes challenging. It should include your mentor, family, and friends who are supporting your best possible recovery, as well as your therapist.
When stress builds to a level you cannot manage, do not wait to contact Iron Bridge for immediate help. We will do all we can to help you avoid relapse. We provide individualized care to support your unique needs.
#2: Exercise
Exercise offers a direct benefit in high-stress situations. Physical activity will pump oxygen-rich, nutrient-filled blood to your brain faster, allowing you to process thoughts more effectively. However, it also produces endorphins, which are the body’s natural feel-good hormones, or more precisely, neurotransmitters.
Studies show that the use of physical exercise can help you feel good because of the increase in beta-endorphin, which blocks the sensation of pain. This also boosts happiness and gives you a “runner’s high.” That’s why it feels good to play an intense game of basketball or to take a physically demanding hike in nature.
#3: Build a Gratitude Journal
Writing down your gratitude is a stress reliever. It helps you focus on what is really valuable to you: your family, friends, and health.
When you’re feeling stressed, thinking about what makes you grateful can be difficult. However, by focusing heavily on what you’re grateful for, those stressors become a thing of the past.
#4: Set Boundaries
Many times, stress builds because we fail to establish boundaries to protect ourselves. For example, when you start to feel more confident and take on new projects, you’ll start to feel stress build. There’s more demand on you, and there’s more reason not to fail. It’s overwhelming.
Instead of fighting hard through the stress, set some boundaries, give yourself some time off, and lower your expectations considerably. There’s no harm in doing so.
#5: Establish a Routine
A routine is a very effective way of combating stress if you implement some core tools to help you take a break from stressors.
Create a routine that gives you “time off” from stress. That could mean spending time with friends or locking yourself away for some “you” time with a good book. Build in components to your routine that let you step away from the most intense stressors in your life.
#6: Mindfulness and Meditation
Many people feel stressed as their thoughts spiral out of control. There’s always an endless to-do list or a number of people who have intense demands on you. Step away and focus on mindfulness and meditation.
These are brain breaks, ways to give your thought processes a break from intense, never-ending worry. Mindfulness allows you to focus on reality—what’s really happening right now, not what you perceive to be occurring or what could happen. Meditation supports your inner thought processes, helping you focus your energy and attention. Both reduce intense stress quickly.
#7: Learn to Let Go
This is the hardest strategy, but one of the most important: Learn to surrender. That doesn’t mean giving up and throwing in the towel. It means accepting what you cannot change. Be thankful for what you can, but recognize the real limits present.
If you constantly struggle with relationships that cause you intense stress, it may be time to walk away from them. Similarly, if your job is always a source of self-hate, you may need to find a new role.
Know That There’s Always Help Available to You at Iron Bridge
Let the team at Iron Bridge Recovery Center in Chester, Virginia, go to work for you. When it’s time to focus on you, reach out to us for an assessment. We’ve been in your shoes. We’re ready to help you learn what’s next.
