Let’s face it: Stress plays a big part in most of our lives. Our jobs cause us to feel stressed. Our relationships cause us to feel stressed. Our health issues cause us to feel stressed. That’s just three categories among many that can lead to increased stress levels.
Here’s another key fact: Too much stress is bad for your recovery from a substance use disorder. That is the case because high stress levels can tempt you to return to drug or alcohol use as a way to manage the problem. This sort of “self-medicating” to deal with the stress in your life is, of course, a terrible idea—but it crops up far too often in recovery.
In a previous blog post, we wrote about the ways in which developing good communication skills can help relieve stress. This time out, we are going to turn to another strategy for reducing the amount of stress you experience on a day-to-day basis. That strategy involves keeping things tidy in the spaces where you spend a lot of time.
Clutter Leads to Chaos. Chaos Leads to Stress.
You have probably experienced a busy morning when you are just trying to get out the door so you get to work on time but you cannot find your car keys. Talk about a stressful way to get your day started, right?
One possible reason that your keys are missing is that you left them (or at least think you left them) in a cluttered space. Maybe your family tends to use your dining room table as a catchall space so it is covered in random pieces of mail, a couple of tools for an abandoned project, newspapers and magazines, and used coffee mugs that never quite made it back to the kitchen. Maybe there is a coat or sweatshirt that has been tossed across the whole scene (it might even be yours)—another obstacle to finding your keys.
We suspect you are imagining that feeling of stress right now. Now imagine that you took some time to straighten up the clutter and worked to keep your table clear. Imagine that you have identified a spot where you can consistently set your keys so that you always know where they are. Imagine being able to eat at the table regularly.
This specific example might not apply to you, but there is a good chance there is a space in your life that could use some straightening up. It might be your office or other workspace. It might be your car. It could be your basement or garage. Bringing some order to the chaos—no matter the space in question—is a great way to reduce stress and protect your recovery.
Clutter Can Even Upend Your Sleep Leading to More Stress
It might seem like clutter is something of a non-issue in your sleeping space. After all, you spend most of your time in that space with your eyes closed, right?
But it turns out that simply closing your eyes does not necessarily cause your brain to forget about the clutter in the room. On some level, your brain might continue to think of the messy space as a job that needs to be tackled, and that can impact the quality of your sleep.
Reducing clutter in your bedroom can be part of an overall strategy to improve your sleep. That strategy might also include ensuring that your bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet. You might consider setting a regular bedtime (and waking time). You could discover that a white noise machine or soft music or sleep stories help you both get to sleep and stay asleep.
Getting better rest is a wonderful way to make yourself more resilient when facing down stress in your life. Decluttering your bedroom is an excellent way to get started on a path toward more restful sleep, which in turn supports your recovery.
Are Drugs or Alcohol Cluttering Up Your Life?
When you are struggling with drug or alcohol use, it can seem as though the substances fill up every bit of available space in your life. All of your thoughts and energy get tangled up in an ongoing effort to keep the substances coming. And if you try to quit on your own? Then the withdrawal symptoms rush in to wreak their own kind of havoc on your body and brain. You need an effective way to clean out the drugs or alcohol while making withdrawal manageable.
At French Creek Recovery Center—located in Meadville, Pennsylvania—we offer a medically supervised detoxification program that allows you to eliminate the substances in your system in a safe environment that is free of temptations. We follow that up with a robust rehabilitation program that includes treatment for any co-occurring mental health disorders that may be contributing to the mess caused by your substance use disorder. And then we provide ongoing support so that you can start your recovery journey feeling confident and well-prepared.
We are dedicated to improving the lives of those we serve. If you are ready to make a change for the better, we are ready to get to work on your behalf.