Foundation Four Self-Care in Recovery: Physical Alertness | 09+12+19

I am not a person who enjoys a 7 day of the week workout. I cannot tell you that I have ever competed a workout challenge in my life. But what I can tell you is that in the past 7 months the more active I have stayed the better I have felt. Just get up and move! Go to the park and walk the track, grab a basketball and shoot some hoops, workout or try yoga once or twice a week. This doesn’t have to be hardcore workouts; you just gotta keep yourself moving every single day! Our bodies need it! Did you know…

Physical | Physical Alertness

www.wellandgood.com
When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine

When we are depressed or suffering from addiction we can often forget to take care of our physical selves. We don’t eat right, sleep right, or anything that we should. That is why our hair falls out or we get dark circles under our eyes. You’ll notice acne begin to appear and your sick more often than not. We deprive ourselves of nutrition and wellness that we need to survive. These things eventually start to get to the point where we are nothing but a walking skin.

I know that I never want my body to ever feel or look that way again. Knowing how much I was depriving myself of I try to make up for that now. Over the past few months or so I can really understand and feel the difference in my body. I think that no matter what struggle your facing or addiction your recovering from being Physically Alert can help your overall general health.

Do you ever think about why so many people mediate? Why there are so many health guru’s? Why fitness products and supplements are almost a #1 world-wide seller? Because it feels good to feel good! Nobody really wants to walk around looking and feeling bad. So if we can start to just get up and get active we can always make sure that we have the foundation for success.

Basketball is so much fun! I am completely horrible at it but I love to play with TJ. He makes it look so easy and I’m over here looking like a hippo in yoga pants trying to do back flips! It just don’t look right. But I have fun while playing and after when my heart is beating and I can feel the endorphins going crazy I just love it! Yoga is another favorite of mine. Once, again I look ridiculous but I absolutely love to take part in it. There is a sense of freedom and relaxation once you get over not looking right. Your body just yearns for the activity and it feels fantastic after. I know most of anyone thinks that yoga is silly or hard but in reality its neither. It’s pretty relaxing and certainly fun.

You won’t ever catch me running or jogging for that matter because I am just not a runner but I do love to walk the track at the park especially because mine has a trail through the woods and that’s my soft-spot! Just being up and moving around instead of on my phone or in front of the TV junkin out on junk food makes you feel better!

I mention these activities because they are my own personal examples of b Physical Alertness. The more active I am the more alter my mind, body, and soul will be to the things in life that will try to bring me down. Staying alert isn’t always easy and if we are dumpy and frumpy we are more likely to let something slip by us and fall into the sadness or lose grip of our willpower. So I cannot tell you how important it is to stay alert and get active for not just your physical being but your mind & soul too! It is going to be hard at first but just push forward and know that once that initial pain is gone you will feel so much better!

WHEN THE BODY IS PHYSICALLY READY THERE IS NOTHING THAT WE CANNOT HANDLE MENTALLY…

Be ready always!

@sober_soul

Happiness | 08+24+19

Find an understanding within yourself about your life…and then you can begin to recover….

I recently wrote about how most addicts have an underlying reason that they start using. That I think is important when you start your journey of recovery. There also needs to be a sense of understanding with yourself. We need to understand what our reasons are, how they affect us, what is happening to us , and most of all we need to understand where we are in life and how we got there, to truly recover.

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t pray for understanding in my life. Understanding what is going on in our lives is important. Understanding our emotions is important. Understanding that we will find a way through the darkness is necessary. Our mind and our souls have been broken at some point and whatever happened to get us to point of being broken; that is what we have to understand. Why it had to happen that way and finding a way through the emotions is often the hardest part.

So how do we find understanding? How to do we find the acceptance of the events in our life? How do we work our way through the emotions? It is our emotions that we try to cover with substance or alchol abuse isn’t it? I have found ways to heal through the emotions that come when you begin your road to recovery and allow you to begin feeling happiness again.

Know what takes your happiness away.
Find the best possible solution to that issue.
Develop a plan that will give you success to complete your solution.
Write these all down. Or make a video journal of your issue, solution, and plan.
Set forth on your plan. You may need to enlist the help of someone to get to where you need to be emotionally. But if you do this alone take it slow and don’t overthink it!
Record your accomplishments and progress. Don’t allow yourself to fall off course. Your end goal is to create a solution to the problem that steals your happiness. Don’t lose sight of that.
Embrace the opportunity to be happy. This is often the hardest part! Accepting that you want to be happy and that you deserve to be happy!
Always be aware of things, people, places, actions, or situations that can steal your happiness! We have to work overtime on managing our happiness during early stages of recovery so pay close attention to everything and everyone around you that risk stealing your happiness from you.
Don’t allow doubt or guilt take anything from you! Remember you are choosing to get sober and that is a beautiful thing and another step closer to a beautiful life!

We need to accept that we deserve to be happy. Of course that is another topic all on its’ own!

However, there is so much beauty in being happy in the moment that your in! Even if your life isn’t completely where you want or need it to be. For example, I don’t have my children back in my life at all! I don’t get to talk to them or see them or have any updates on their life what so ever. But I don’t spend my days sad and angry anymore. Because I cannot get myself to where I need to be if I am not living life!

I know what took my happiness away. I know what started all this for me and I didn’t even realize that until I posted my “Reasons Why” post. My marriage took most of my happiness away and then losing my children took the rest of what I had left away. So therefor I found my issue to what was stealing my happiness. Now, I devleoped a plan for a solutuion to that issue! My plan for getting my children back! Next, I docuement every week my progress on moving my life in the direction to get my kids back. That my friends I do privately because there are some folks that just don’t need to know my every move. I also record my accomplishments of my life progress (also in my plan) and my acccomplishments in the steps to geting my kids back. I remind myself that everything I am doing is to get them back into my life! I have removed anyone from my life that don’t add to my positive and happy vibes in life! I also don’t put myself in situations to risk my sobreity nor my happiness! On the days that I something really good happens and I start to feel guilty for that excitement I feel I remind myself that I have to be happy and healthy to obtain my goal and that it is a part of my recovery, part of my healing, and a part of my life plan! I can see the bigger picture and know that what I am looking forward to is like looking out into the world with a fresh perspective and opening my arms wide letting the air hit my face and the wind blow through my hair as I soak up every moment, because I know that I am lucky to be alive!

My children need me to be everything I can be so that I can fully care for them and give them the life they deserve!

So the next time you are wondering if it is okay to be happy or if you can even find happiness again? Just remember that no matter what if you truly want a good life you can create it and there is nothing wrong with being happy!

That is all for now

@chic_sober

28 Questions Q16 | 06+08+19

Q16: What is the most loving thing you’ve ever done for yourself?

A16: Get clean and sober!

No doubt this answer is easy! I put myself through hell during the Devil Days and my body, mind, and soul was wrecked! My hair was falling out, nails wouldn’t grow, skin looked horrible, I was too skinny, and there were huge bags under my eyes. I am only 31 but I looked 45! I didn’t care what was happening to my mind, body, and soul. Getting clean I can now see how horrible I treated myself inside and out. It was the kindest and most loving thing I could have ever done for myself was to get clean.

Now, my hair is growing, my nails are long, my skin looks great, and I have a good weight size! Of course I need to keep my weight in check or else I’m going to look like a hippo in a wal-mart bag but still I am healthy. You can’t look at me now and tell that I ever did drugs because I look good.

I love myself again and that feels great. I know that I can be somebody now and that feels great too.

I am happier

That is all for now.

@chic_sober