LIVING A BALANCED LIFE IN RECOVERY
It is very common for individuals in recovery to be told that they need to begin living a “balanced life”. But just exactly what is it and how can we achieve it?
Living a balanced life simply means devoting time to each element of our lives that is important to us and enhances our well-being. It means NOT continually giving 100% of our time to one interest or activity, and ignoring other things that may be just as important. Many of us in recovery find this difficult – we tend to be “all or nothing” thinkers.
There are many parts of our lives that are equally important:
- Maintaining our physical, emotional and spiritual health helps us achieve our goals and become productive
- Working or volunteering is important to our self-worth and self-esteem
- Spending time with family helps us to re-establish these relationships
- Using our leisure time to rest, relax, de-stress and have fun makes life worth living
- Doing recovery-focused activities (attending 12-step meetings, reaching out to others in recovery or helping someone trying to get clean and sober, etc.) helps us maintain our sobriety
This is just an example. Every one of us has different priority areas in our lives. And we have to remember too that things do not always happen as we may expect them to – we must adjust to life as it happens.
The important thing is to make sure we give the necessary time to each part of our lives and have a balanced life in recovery.
