If you’re in recovery from addiction or past trauma, now is the time to live differently. It’s time to make new choices, different decisions, and start doing life in a new way. When you’re in recovery, you need to detach from the past and move forward as a different person.
Part of becoming a different person is learning new skills to succeed in life. It may be the first chance you’ve had to think about gaining some of these important skills. There are three areas to focus on: life skills for physical well-being, psychological well-being, and emotional well-being.
Life Skills for Your Physical Well-being
Learning life skills for your physical well-being means building the tools to take care of yourself. Apart from the standard recommendations for a nutritious diet, exercise, and rest, they’re skills to help you with your basic needs like how to start building your credit, finding a job, getting adequate clothing, balancing a checkbook, and creating a budget. They’re also skills for your physical health like scheduling dentist or doctor appointments.
These skills are needed so that you can live independently. There are programs out there to help you get started, but learning how to take care of yourself in the long term can take some time. In our upcoming articles, we'll share some tips for building up the skills you need for everyday living.
Life Skills for Your Mental Well-being
Your mental health is important so you can cope with normal stressors while you continue to work through the trauma, triggers, reminders, and intrusive thoughts that come your way. When you’re mentally healthy, you will have the tools to process your pain and start to feel like yourself again. With each moment you win back, you can be rebuilt into a better version of yourself.
You’ll also want to make sure that you are practicing self-care to build resilience. A key part of your recovery is building healthy relationships that are balanced and with people who have your best interest in mind. People like these will encourage you toward good things. Growing and building resiliency is easier when you’re surrounded by people who encourage and support you in your life goals.
Life Skills for Your Emotional Well-being
Things that you experienced in the past may have led to some unhealthy emotional responses. Part of developing good emotional health is developing emotional regulation and self-control.
Developing a sense of both physical and emotional safety is part of strengthening your mental health. Here are some ways to begin the process of creating a safer environment for yourself:
Lean into the reality of your experience
Give yourself the space to grieve what has happened and time to come to terms with your reality
Assess what you do and do not have control over
Take a moment to decide where you want to go from here
Surround yourself with support to help you get there
Make a commitment to yourself to not let the distractions and destructive influences have power over you
Don’t let your pain take more from your life than it already has
Overcoming trauma, addiction and other adverse experiences take time. Building resilience and self-confidence will give you a good foundation for moving forward. They will help you work toward a better life and healthier relationships. In upcoming articles, we’ll talk about the tools and skills to build when you are ready to live more independently.
Smart Schools students are encouraged to reach out to their Academic Advisor to talk about concerns that may be preventing them from learning. As needed, they can connect you with various resources that support you in your journey.
If you’re not a Smart Schools student but would like to learn more, please visit smartschoolsusa.org.
