How Work-Life Balance Plays a Part in Maintaining Sobriety

What do you think when someone asks you about work-life balance?

What does it mean? Why do you need it? How can you maintain the balance between work and life? Is it even possible to maintain balance in your life while recovering from substance use?

Nearly everything is possible when you put your mind to it. Balance between every aspect of life is necessary for a healthy and peaceful life. Balancing your work and life together while you are healing is quite a task, but it is possible with a positive approach. Let’s find out together the answer to all these questions.

What Is Work-Life Balance?

Whether you are self-employed or have the corner office, work customer service or drive a delivery truck, your job is important. However, your life is not just about work.

There are birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate, homes to keep clean, people to feed, friends to keep up with, and so much more to keep up within the “life” aspect of your life. This is where balance comes in.

Maintaining a proper equilibrium between your personal and professional time is essential for living a healthy life. This is what work-life balance is all about. Everyone wants to be more efficient and productive at their workplace and spend an ample amount of quality time with their friends and family.

Both the divisions of life depend on each other, but you should avoid mixing them or letting one take time away from the other.

Why Is It Needed?

In such a work-centric society, people's professional goals often interfere with their personal lives. Relationships may suffer because of this, which can affect your mental health, which leads to stress and even recovery burnout.

Conversely, when you take too much time away from your work, whether to do activities with family and friends, jet off on vacation, or be too free with “personal days," it can affect your work performance. If not taken seriously, doing so can cause you to lose your job or negatively impact your finances.

While work isn't everything, it is necessary. That is why you must create a balance between your work and personal lives.

How Do You Balance Work, Life, and Sobriety?

Meditation and mindfulness: Engage your mind often and as much as you can. Exercise improves your physical fitness, mental health, and emotional well-being both at home and at work. Whether you run, meditate, cycle, do yoga or play sports, it all helps. Taking time out of your day to exercise or meditate can help you be more productive and remain sober.

Adequate sleep: The average adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. If you’re getting less than this, chances are you are not operating at your highest potential. Proper sleep gives you the energy to be productive and helps you avoid additional health risks like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, frustration, anxiety, and depression.

Proper nutrition: A proper diet is really important to maintain a healthy life. Eating a balanced diet that includes all food groups helps your body function properly and allows you to be more productive and more present, whether at home or at work. Proper nutrition is also key to maintaining sobriety.

Recognize your worth: After you've kicked your addiction, you might feel a sense of shame or guilt about your substance use. These feelings are normal, but you are not defined by mistakes you made in the past. Now is the time to recognize the hard work you've done and get to living a life free of harmful substances because you deserve it.

When you're aware of your talents and skills, you can perform your best at work and make your personal life meaningful. Then you can focus on making substance use a thing of the past.

Take responsibility: People suffering from substance use disorder often put their need to obtain drugs or alcohol above their other financial responsibilities. The first step to financial recovery is to take ownership of your mistakes, then make baby steps to improve your condition. No one overcomes a financial crisis overnight, so it’s a good idea to list your priorities and work on funding them accordingly.

Setting priorities is one of the first steps to creating a balanced budget. You may also have damaged relationships you need to repair. 

Take responsibility for those mistakes and make a plan to gain back the trust of your friends and family. These two things help you take ownership of the damage done and allow you to put your work and personal life back in their proper places.

The more detailed you can be with your plan for money management and relationship building, the less stress you will have, and the less likely you are to relapse.

Getting The Work-Life Balance Right Is Hard, But Worth It

At The Edge Treatment Center, we know maintaining a healthy work-life balance isn't easy in recovery, so we are here to help you. Through counseling and other interventions, we can help you get on the path to achieving proper balance. To find out more information about our facility and services, contact us at (800) 778-1772 today.