Developing bad habits is one of the pitfalls a person can face while in addiction recovery. This is especially true for people leaving a structured environment, such as residential treatment. Learning how to care for yourself during and post-treatment can be hard. However, anyone can learn and practice healthy habits. Mental health care and addiction treatment facilities such as Driftwood Recovery work to teach these skills. With enough time and practice, a bad habit can be prevented from taking root.
What Are Bad Habits?
A habit can be considered good or bad depending on its effect on an individual. Even the most healthy of habits can turn dangerous if misused or uncontrolled. For example, exercise is important to have a healthy body. Over-exercising, however, can put you at risk for serious injury. As a result, a bad habit is defined as actions that cause a detrimental effect on your mental or physical health. These habits may also invoke feelings of guilt or shame in a person.
Examining some examples of common bad habits that can develop during recovery shows how easy a bad habit can take root — but also, how you can fix them.
#1. Bad Habits That Ignore Healthy Routines
It takes a lot to keep a person healthy. They must eat nutritious food, rest, sleep, exercise, socialize, and stay clean. Some healthy habits are established early in life, such as brushing your teeth or taking a bath regularly. However, it’s easy to fall out of these habits, which neglects your health. Bad habits include examples such as isolating yourself, not sleeping regularly, or eating nothing but junk food.
Those who engage in these habits are routinely tired and unwell, which can cause them to lose their mental resilience. This makes it harder to resist cravings or urges that can still happen even after addiction treatment is completed.
The best way to get back on track is to use alarms or reminder apps to help establish a new routine. Healthy food services exist to provide nutrition, even when you don’t have time to cook. Driftwood Recovery goes over the importance of nutrition and exercise, so it’s always okay to contact a staff member to help you get on track. It takes time, but establishing a healthy routine will eventually become second nature.
#2. Rejecting Further Help Because You Feel ‘Cured’
It’s essential to understand that addiction and other mental health conditions can’t be cured. However, they can be managed well enough for someone to achieve recovery and function normally. Recovery is not a finish line, but a continuous journey that will last the rest of your life. Everyone, including you, will need help again at some point in your life. Even people who have never developed an addiction or mental health disorder can need help. Recovery means accepting this and being willing to utilize professional and familial/peer support to assist when needed.
Assuming that you no longer need to be aware of your mental and physical health can lead to more problems than a decline in general health. Always be aware of your needs and establish a crisis plan with your provider before leaving treatment.
#3. Bad Habits That Surround You With Negative Influences
Surrounding yourself with negativity can sharply decline your mental health. This can result from a lack of boundaries, or hanging around toxic people. It also comes from living in a chaotic or unclean environment. People-pleasers often fall into these bad habits because they have difficulty saying “no.” Being around these influences can trigger a relapse.
That’s why Driftwood Recovery works with clients to teach them essential social skills. These include setting firm boundaries, resisting peer pressure, and finding self-worth in yourself. You don’t have to accept mistreatment from others. Free yourself and find healthier connections. You deserve to be treated well.
#4. Substituting Addictions in Recovery
You’ve worked hard to overcome your addiction. Now care must be taken to ensure that you aren’t still engaging in the bad habit of self-medicating. Bad habits often form as a response to stress and other difficulties. You may be tempted to engage in certain behaviors, such as shopping or gambling, as a form of relaxation. Or you may use substances that you may consider less dangerous, such as nicotine, as a “safer” way to deal with stress. These habits can quickly become another addiction if left unchecked and can rapidly spiral out of control.
The best response is prevention. Clients at Driftwood Recovery learn techniques, such as stress management and self-care, to reduce the desire to self-medicate. If you feel as though your behaviors or substance use are getting out of hand, it’s vital to seek help immediately.
#5. Being Too Hard on Yourself
Perhaps the most impactful bad habits are the ones that bring down your self-esteem. It’s common for people in recovery to be overly hard on themselves. Such feelings are especially entrenched if their actions harmed someone. The unresolved guilt and shame can drive someone to inflict increasingly dangerous levels of self-punishment or penance. These bad habits start as thoughts that you don’t “deserve” something nice because of your past actions. It can quickly turn into constant negative self-talk, lowered self-esteem, and denying yourself joy.
Addictions are hard enough on an individual. Self-punishment does nothing but cause pain, because it will never feel enough to completely eradicate guilt and shame. Instead, make a habit of volunteering or giving back to the community. That way, you can make a positive difference in the world and find healing in yourself. Letting go of the guilt is hard, but possible for anyone with the right help.
It’s easy to not be kind to yourself. Forming healthy habits is in of itself a form of self-care. So, don’t let bad habits sabotage your recovery. Be aware, lean on your support, and seek professional help to ensure lasting healthy recovery habits.
Bad habits don’t just make life harder. They can also threaten recovery and trigger a relapse. Everyone in recovery needs to be aware of common bad habits around recovery and work to overcome them. At Driftwood Recovery in Driftwood and Austin, Texas, clients use therapeutic techniques to identify harmful habits. Then, they can change these habits into healthy ones, ensuring that they have the skills they need to remain in recovery. Having access to a robust community of fellow alumni ensures that clients learn and practice healthy habits, ensuring lasting recovery. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, don’t wait to get help. Call Driftwood Recovery today at (512) 759-8330.