5 Ways When Dealing With Crisis in Recovery

Crisis in Recovery: The early stages of recovery are full of unknowns. Stress can overwhelm you when trying to triumph over your addiction against all of these unknowns, and crisis somehow gets mixed in. Stress has the potential to push you back into old habits. This you want to avoid, but sometimes you can’t. A crisis can happen at any time.

A crisis can range from something minor to anything major. What if a family member died during your early recovery or if your home caught fire? What if that brother-in-law you really don’t like comes to stay with your family for a month or two? These are stress-inducing events, just a few examples that could quickly pivot a person new to recovery to fall off the wagon once again. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid this.

Similarly, if you are the loved one of someone in early recovery, equip yourself with the resources and knowledge to properly support them during a crisis.

12 Step-By-Step Success for Remaining Sober During a Crisis in Recovery

You are susceptible in early recovery to relapse. According to a research article, “New Findings on Biological Factors Predicting Addiction Relapse Vulnerability,” “more than two-thirds of individuals relapse within weeks to months of initiating treatment.” Approximately “85% of individuals relapse and return to drug use within 1 year of treatment.” Crisis escalates that probability.

Whereas individuals who do not experience addiction might consider a stress-inducing event trivial, to an individual who is in recovery, it prompts a fight or flight response. Addiction drives dependency and abuse. The first typical response from a person who experiences addiction would be to use again.

Initiating a step-by-step process for managing stress during a crisis helps mitigate potential relapse. Follow along as we go through three steps to staying sober during a crisis.

Step 1: Breathe, Take a Moment, Relax

Remaining calm during an episode of stress or crisis is the best first step. Emotions easily overwhelm you when suffering from addiction, resulting in drinking or using drugs as a way to cope. Being mindful of your situation, especially during a crisis, lets you regain control over yourself and refocus on your surroundings. Stress otherwise overwhelms you and causes you to think illogically. How about – not this time.

Simple mindful actions like taking deep breaths, paying attention to the rhythm of your pulse, and orientating yourself with physical surroundings help ground you. You can now approach a crisis not with drugs or alcohol on your mind but the next steps.

Step 2: Find Out What You Have Control Over

What kind of crisis are you facing? Is it relatively small or large? How have you managed crises in the past? These are all questions you need to consider once in control of your emotions. Far from your feelings, find what part of the situation you have control over. You have the ability to reduce the impact of a crisis. A bandage here and there helps. A trip to the doctor helps. Running to the store for medicine helps. Small things add up, and taking it one moment at a time is key while managing stress along the way.

If it helps you,  make a physical list of what you hold control over regarding the crisis. Long-lasting substance abuse causes a sort of fog to cloud your memory and judgment. Having a physical copy of your next steps helps reduce the stress from your lacking memory.

Step 3: You Are Only Human

What if a crisis is too large? Unfortunately, you are only human and cannot fix everything. Fix what you can while managing your stress. As much as you bandage your wounds or take medicine for an illness, you are not a doctor. A fire extinguisher only does so much. Sometimes you need the fire department because the fire grew too big. It helps to understand your limitations.

Without understanding your limitations and thinking you are Superman, you will fail to meet those expectations. Failing to meet those expectations you set for yourself indeed causes distress. Distress causes stress and has the potential to vault you back towards relapse.

Relapse is the enemy. Compared to relapse and the long-term damage addiction has on your body and mind, most crises are short-term. They only hurt you so much; whereas, you do not know where you might end up once going down the rabbit hole of drug and alcohol dependency.

Crises are manageable. Addiction is when your life has become unmanageable due to your powerlessness over drugs or alcohol. Going at it alone, a crisis while in recovery, is exceptionally difficult. Surround yourself with family and friends who want to see you healthy.

Coping Skills for a Crisis in Early Recovery

As a person getting help for their addiction, you are used to using drugs or alcohol to cope with stress. A crisis has the potential to prolong periods of stress, too. Instead of turning to alcohol or drugs to cope with a problem, you need to learn how to cope without those things. Developing strong coping skills during early recovery helps you with managing future stressful life events. Here are a few additional tips to effectively cope during a crisis or other stressful life event when traversing early recovery.

Tip 1: Exercise as a Coping Skill

Exercise is a tried and true approach to taking your mind off stressful events. The idea of exercise comes at a cost, though – expending energy. It is not uncommon for a person who experienced addiction to succumb to energy-saving behaviors, i.e., avoiding exercise. The idea of exercise then comes off as tedious and might drive you to avoid it; however, by getting out for a run or swimming laps in a pool, your brain rewards you with valuable endorphins. These endorphins function similarly to if you took an opioid, providing you with a bodily high but at no cost of damage to your mind and body.

Finding the proper form of exercise for you is critical. Not everyone loves to run or swim. You might enjoy basketball or tennis. Experiment and figure out which form of exercise best suits you because sticking with something you don’t enjoy limits your drive. Developing a long-term healthy coping skill, like exercise, is important for regulating your stress levels as well as healing the damage inflicted on your body and mind during the height of your addiction.

Tip 2: Finding Your Flow State as a Coping Skill

A flow state is when you become completely engrossed in an activity. Your concentration is singular, and nothing distracts you. Finding something that keeps your attention in this way is essential when relieving yourself of stress from a crisis-related event. This takes the form of distracting yourself with a hobby, like playing an instrument, cooking for fun, or playing a video game. Taking your mind off the crisis dramatically improves your overall mental state and capabilities.

Being bombarded with stress-inducing events during your early recovery influences potential relapse. Relapse does not need to be part of your recovery journey if you do not want it to be. Avoiding relapse takes learned behavior, however. Learning healthy ways to cope with stress during crises reduces your chance of relapse.

Tip 3: Seeking the Support of Loved Ones

The support loved ones provide goes for miles. Whether you just want to catch up on life, make sense of a crisis, or need to discuss your recovery journey, those closest to you are there for you. That said, your new life in recovery might create barriers with past friends or family in your life. Unfortunately, not everyone accepts those who suffer from addiction or those who seek help for it. It is crucial that you discern who has your best interest in mind for your own and your recovery’s sake. Avoiding toxic family or friends means avoiding potential sabotage of your long-term sobriety.

Making sense of a crisis during early recovery by seeking out the support of your loved ones also strengthens bonds. Just like you, they are fresh in this new phase of your life. Whether they knew you struggled with addiction or not, being open with them builds trust. Early treatment and recovery do not last a lifetime. Re-entrance into the real world comes around eventually, and knowing who you can rely on and provide support to ensures your lasting sobriety even during crises.

Tip 4: Mindful Meditation and Journaling as Coping Skills

Mindful meditation is an excellent way to understand your feelings or emotions. Practicing mindful meditation is when you concentrate on exactly how you feel “without interpretation or judgment” or external sensory stimuli. As described by the Mayo Clinic, it can involve “breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.” Mindful meditation helps you from feeling overwhelmed. It enables you to hold control over your emotions and respond accordingly.

Journaling, too, is a tremendous day-to-day exercise that allows you to express your emotions in writing. Approaching journaling with the mindset of it being a meditative exercise dramatically improves its effectiveness toward helping your manage stress.

Neither takes more than a few minutes per day and are simple techniques for starting your day or managing due to a crisis.

Relapse Due to Crisis and Stress 6

Don’t feel shame if you relapse. Addiction is a powerful disease. It progresses through you in life, escalating risk-taking behaviors without your realizing it. Relapse due to crisis or stress is not the end-all. Professional treatment options exist for this reason. Millions of people have suffered from addiction for too long and needed help. Supplementing your recovery with multiple forms of treatment, such as in-patient or out-patient help, help from a substance specialist or primary care physician, or going to a recovery group like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA), boosts your chances of achieving successful long-term sobriety.

If you suffer from an addiction or are worried about a loved one who suffers from an addiction, please seek help. Treatment is just around the corner. Do not wait until it is too late – when a crisis strikes and recovery seems near impossible. Healing takes time and a lot of effort, but it is always worth it. Additionally, relapse and recovery do not ever have to go hand in hand. That is an ugly myth.

Every day might feel like a struggle when in the throes of addiction, but you can achieve long-term sobriety with the right tools and resources. At Real Recovery Sober Living, we have been successful in helping hundreds of men achieve long-lasting sobriety. To help you succeed, we establish a recovery plan that best fits your needs. Our program is founded on the idea of building a safe and stable community for you to thrive in. For more information, please call (727) 290-9156 today.

 

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