“To stay in recovery, you must be responsible for finding your own motivation. Remember, motivation may not be easy to come by at first. It will probably be a very small, timid part inside of you. When you find it, let that part be in charge. Let the minority rule and lead you to a life you never dreamed was possible”      Jenni Schaefer

From 7 Ways Self-Care Makes Sobriety Easier:

I know that when I am not taking good enough care of myself, I start to feel really out of balance, and can start to feel quite overwhelmed. It is in those times that my mental health is most at risk, and I need to exercise extreme self-care to bring myself back to balance. Recently I have felt quite unsettled and unbalanced and reflected that my self-care was dwindling. Among many things, I realized that my coffee consumption had risen a lot, and I needed to return to the calmer, less anxious state that a caffeine-free life. An agonizing headache and the stupefying exhaustion that the detox created confirmed to me that coffee really isn’t good for me and that I need to eliminate it from my life. Already, now that my headache and exhaustion have mostly passed, I am feeling clearer, happier, more at peace and definitely more focused!

From Feeling Safe:

Not too long ago, while I was listening to the audiobook by Pete Walker entitled Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, I realized I never felt safe as a child. I was afraid of the people who were supposed to protect me and keep me safe. Heck, I have never really felt safe as an adult either, until this past year when I gained a deeper understanding of what self-love means. Up until not too long ago, I had always been in survival mode. I had never felt like I had a safe place to fall. I had felt hopeless and alone. I was the rock for others, but not myself.

From An Experiment in Self-Care: 10 Strategies to Create Peace:

Below are some of the practices I incorporated into my self-care experiment and their subsequent benefits.

1. Schedule mini-meditations throughout the day. I tried this and liked the results so much that I’m up to three 5-minute meditations a day using the Calm app.
2. Unplug for an hour. If it requires an internet connection, turn it off. I thought that this self-care technique would be stifling, but instead, I found it liberating. Read a paperback book or cook a meal without the constant distraction of email, to-do lists, and internet reading. You’ll feel like you’re in Little House on the Prairie.