What is Recovery?
I like to think of recovery as acting on that little voice inside that says we can live a positive, more fulfilled, hopeful life and responding to that voice through small action steps to a better life.
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary recovery is: a return to a normal state of health, mind or strength or the process of regaining something that was stolen or lost. In other words, from this bloggers perspective its recapturing who you are and all you are meant to be. Its pro recovery, bringing yourself to a new place and a new you.
You may ask, how can I recapture the me I was meant to be? You don’t understand all that you have gone through? The answer is I do understand. Recovery is hard work, and the purpose is to become a new stronger you as the result of putting in the work to love yourself in the process.
Here are a couple of practical steps to regaining or recapturing a new you.
1) Positive Self Talk
In our brain we have something called neuroplasticity. It is the grooves in our brain that either route our thoughts to positive or negative feelings. In other words, if we dwell on positive thoughts our brain is more like to route us to a positive thought. If we dwell on negative thoughts, the brain goes to the negative feelings. We have some control over how our days go by how we respond to our thoughts. Doing the work of positive self-talk and affirmations does pay off. It may be hard at first, however, keep going and know the work will pay off.
Some affirmations you can tell yourself are: I am loved, I am cared about, I can think and feel at the same time, I am creatively and uniquely me.
2) Living a Balanced Lifestyle
A balance between eating well and splurging once and a while on that chocolate really can benefit your overall health and wellness. Sleeping too much or two little does affect many areas of your life. It’s important to keep a balanced lifestyle, whether its social, emotional, physical or spiritual. All things in moderation are really the key.
3) Use Coping Skills
There are hundreds of coping skills at our disposal every day. Whether it’s leaving a bad scene, not cursing out grandma, or texting a friend when we are sad. There are ways that we can provide self-care for ourselves and truly have a better life.
Take that bubble bath, eat a little chocolate and know you are loved cared about. Have a great day.
