The Power of Your Environment in Recovery
Recovery affects many different aspects of each person’s life. From learning new coping strategies and life skills, exploring new hobbies, and developing personal and professional relationships and goals, recovery affects almost every aspect of a person’s day as they explore their options and agency in their newfound sobriety. One’s environment is no exception and can be an incredibly important aspect of maintaining sobriety. Each person’s environment in recovery can have a large effect on the process and can even facilitate further healing and improve an individual’s outlook on their own lives. Maintaining a clean living space, using open areas or fresh air, and even filling one’s environment with images of success and celebration, such as positive message boards or photographs, can all have a positive effect on recovery. One’s environment can be indicative of progress in recovery and can be reflective of their clarity of mind, their reclamation of agency, and their goals for success in recovery.
Keeping Your Environment Clean
Keeping a clean living environment is more impactful than it may seem on the surface. Keeping a clean, organized living space can reflect a more focused and clear mind as well. In recovery, any number of thoughts and struggles may be affecting an individual on any given day. Learning to employ effective coping mechanisms and life skills is part of the journey to sobriety and one’s own living space can be reflective of their progress in implementing these strategies effectively. Unkempt living spaces can reflect an unfocused mind and may indicate that someone is still learning strategies to help them better prioritize their energy and time management. Even the presence of clutter itself can also introduce unnecessary stress from one’s environment. While something like “cleaning your room” may seem like a juvenile chore, it is actually a key player in understanding the progress that someone has made in recovery and can be the gateway for each person to begin exhibiting agency over their environment and lives.
Creating Your Environment
Maintaining a clean living space is just the first step in using it to a person’s advantage in recovery. While recovery from addiction to drugs or alcohol can feel overwhelming, cleaning or making changes to one’s living space can be the first step for a person to realize the agency that they have over their own lives. Making changes to one’s room, putting up new pictures, reorganizing drawers or closets, or changing the overall decor of one’s living space is a huge exercise in agency that also allows each person to showcase their own identity and interests. All of these aspects are important in recovery and having a safe space where each person can see the changes they have made to their own environment can be very empowering.
This kind of change also showcases a sense of responsibility that each person has in themselves. When left in charge of their own environment, they elected to keep it clean and use it to one’s advantage, creating a feeling of responsibility and accountability going forward.
Going Beyond the Living Space
However, one’s environment is much more than their living space. Having an open space to get out of the house can be incredibly beneficial. Not only is it important to get out when possible in order to get fresh air or get the body moving, but having a change in scenery can help an individual avoid feeling stuck or isolated in one place. Recovery is a process that is greatly influenced by the presence of others in one’s life, whether it be family, friends, or peers. Feelings of isolation can quickly invite urges and the potential for relapse, so having space for each person to get out in a safe environment or community can have a large impact on recovery.
Having a supportive environment and seeing success in others can be a major motivating factor. Whether someone is in a recovery-focused environment or out in the “real world,” simply interacting with others who are pursuing their own goals can be motivating. In recovery, being able to not just visualize, but truly watch others who are moving through their recovery goals can provide a sense of understanding and community, all while showcasing that recovery is possible for anyone, regardless of their past experiences. Recovery can be incredibly difficult and a person’s environment can both reflect how much someone has grown in their own journey while also providing support for them to continue to use the resources and motivation needed to always push for the next step.
Your environment in recovery holds a major influence over your progress and it is important to populate your recovery environment with like-minded people and multiple opportunities to pursue new therapeutic approaches. At Brighton Recovery Center, we champion our unique environment in order to provide as many opportunities for each person. Our gorgeous campus is complete with many amenities that can be used through sober living, detox, and outpatient programs, including our recreation center complete with yoga studio, gym, and even a thrift store and coffee shop, all in an effort to create a comfortable environment for each person to safely explore their own recovery journey. Your time with us can be personalized to fit your needs and peers and professionals will work alongside you to establish your own goals in sobriety and best practices unique to your interests beyond the recovery sphere. For more information on how we can personalize your recovery program or to speak to a caring, trained professional about your unique situation, call us today at (844) 479-7035.
