Many people argue that staying busy during recovery is important. This is grounded in truth. If you have nothing to do, you are more likely to find yourself ruminating with no purpose, no social engagements, no job, and an otherwise difficult time staying focused on the things that matter most.
However, when you return to work, one of the most important things to remember is that balancing work and recovery is equally important, as too much work can lead to high stress, burnout, and a risk of relapse.
Why Balancing Work and Recovery Matters
Research indicates that stress is one of the most well-known risk factors in relapse risk. Studies have found that exposure to stress changes things like GABA pathways and adrenaline. With time, exposure to chronic stress degrades your impulse control.
This means the more stressed you are on a regular basis, the less likely you are to control your impulses and the more likely you are to relapse.
When you return to work after recovery, you may find that the workplace is a possible relapse trigger and that becoming overworked makes you more susceptible to relapse or secondary mental health disorders.
Work as a Trigger
For some, the workplace can be a trigger, with environments or situations like:
- Certain sounds or smells
- Social gatherings
- Feelings of loneliness
Work might be a trigger in something as simple as not being able to participate in an after-work drink at a local bar with a few people in your department, feeling as though you cannot attend the company Christmas party for fear of being triggered, or being around people who remind you of someone with whom you used to do drugs.
Work can also be a trigger because of the stress that you experience particularly if you have a new job with a steep learning curve or a lot that is demanded of you and this stress can impede the quality of your sleep and how much you get, your hormonal regulation which feeds things like feelings of hunger, and your mood.
When these events start to build, they lead to secondary and tertiary effects, all of which make it more likely that you will be triggered or relapse.
How to Balance Work and Recovery
Balancing work and recovery means taking things slowly, not diving immediately back into a full-time, demanding career that you may have had before your recovery.
Manage Your Stress
When you return to work, no matter your job, it’s important that you have effective ways to manage your stress in recovery. Stress can be a leading cause of relapse, especially in the first few months of your recovery.
Personalized stress management techniques might include:
- Stepping away for a quick meditation when you are overwhelmed
- Trying physical relaxation like progressive muscle relaxation techniques
- Going for a walk outside
- Listening to nine minutes of a comforting playlist which can calm down your nervous system
- Taking a break to do a few minutes of an anxiety coloring book
What you do to manage stress will look different depending on your job and what flexibility you have. Not everyone has the option of simply going outside for a walk when they are stressed at work because there may not be an outdoor area safe for walking but in that case you might be able to listen to music, try progressive relaxation, or meditate.
Similarly, you might not be allowed to listen to music at work, but you do have a break room where you can focus on an anxiety coloring book or listen to guided meditation.
Set Limits
One way of balancing work and recovery is to set limits on things like your time, your resources, and your focus.
This can look different from one person to the next depending on the job and its requirements but might include things like the following:
- Setting limits on how people are allowed to communicate with you, not giving out your personal phone number but instead giving out a work phone number
- Setting limits on your workload by not taking any work home with you
- Setting limits on your focus by not checking your work computer on the weekends or in the evening at home
- Setting limits on overtime, not working too many hours per day, or not working extra hours on the weekend that may interfere with your self-care routine
The limits you set will vary based on the job you have so it’s important that you know what you need to do to take care of yourself including your self-care routine, trigger avoidance, and time management.
Getting Help with Ritual Recovery
At our treatment center, we work hard to empower each of our clients with the tools they need to balance work and recovery when they leave our treatment center. However, if balancing work and recovery is a struggle for you, you can always return to substance abuse treatment in North Carolina for continued support where necessary. You don’t need to incur a relapse in order to take preventative care and get the help you need.
