Why a Structured Routine Can Help You Through Addiction Recovery

Introducing a new routine can add structure to your life and also prevent you from slipping back into old, bad habits that led to alcohol or drug abuse.

Establishing a new routine is one of the best ways to ensure that you stay on the path to recovery. This new routine can add structure to your life, help you take care of important tasks on a day-to-day basis and also prevent you from slipping back into old, bad habits that led to alcohol or drug abuse.

To help you learn more about why new routines are so crucial during addiction treatment for drugs or alcohol, here are some of the ways in which they help you recover:

Reduce Anxiety and Unpredictability

While substance abuse can really start at any point, a huge factor in psychological addiction comes from reverting to substance use during periods of uncertainty or boredom. The easiest example is that someone wakes up on a day they do not have to work, they begin watching TV and they decide to consume drugs since they cannot determine what else they want to do with their day.

This pattern of behavior instantly obliterates any chance of productivity for that day and creates unhealthy routines. By having an alternative routine that involves doing things that are healthy for the body, mind and spirit, the temptation to abuse drugs or alcohol is partially avoided.

In fact, professionals like psychologist Jennifer Fee have noticed a direct correlation between boredom and anxiety. “When there's not a lot going on, [...]there is room to focus on thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations that get the vicious cycle [of anxiety] moving,” she claims. This type of anxiety can be triggered by a structure-less environment, whereas having a set purpose can prevent feelings of anxiety that may lead to drug or Alcohol abuse Seattle wa.

Create Internal Support for Your Own Well-Being

There are only so many things that our brains can keep track of at a given time. We compensate for this fact by building in “autopilot” motor skills or activities in order to get through the day without having to focus on every tiny detail. When we drive, for instance, we can automatically feel how much gas to give on the pedal based on past experience when we approach a familiar hill. Another example is the inbuilt assumption that after work on Wednesdays you will drive to the gym.

Introducing a new routine into your life helps build this structure and allows you to take better care of yourself and your personal relationships — eventually without having to exert any effort. By forcing yourself to eat three meals a day without skipping breakfast, for example, you reduce your chances of being malnourished. Committing to a set exercise time or a work schedule similarly helps you keep track of important elements that lead to a normal, stable life. One major consequence of drug and alcohol abuse is self-neglect, after all, so by creating a structured routine you are not only avoiding abuse but also doing things that actually add enjoyment to your life.

Create an Entirely New Lifestyle

Another major contributor to substance abuse is simply the ritual of abusing. When we get off work, having a beer can be a perfectly acceptable habit. However, when one beer becomes a night of binge drinking in front of the TV every single night, this ritual becomes harmful to your body and your general well-being.

Creating a new routine introduces new alternative rituals that actually enrich our lives. Jogging can be a great way to get the stimulation you craved from drugs with real health benefits rather than a debilitating crash. Picking up a hobby like painting or learning to play guitar can substitute a night spent drinking beer or doing drugs while passively staring at a screen.

Introducing dramatic changes like these can be the only way for some people to break away from their old life and create a new, happier, healthier one during their addiction treatment. You can try any of these activities and tie them directly to your rehab program with therapy options available from treatment centers like South Coast Counseling. 

Visit our Types of Therapy page to learn how music therapy, art therapy, career development and similar programs can have you focusing on something that brings you joy rather than pain.