Addiction and Stress; Dealing with Stress in Recovery

Addiction and stress go hand and hand and learning to deal with it is vital in recovery. Stress symptoms can be a real problem for people who have just escaped alcohol or drug abuse. In fact it was often our inability to handle life that drove many of us to addiction and kept us there for years. It was not so much that our lives were always more stressful than other people's lives (although sometimes they were) but more to do with the fact that we just didn't have the tools or mental resources to deal with mental stress. Addiction and stress are a deadly combination, but once we remove one of them the other is easier to deal with.

Stress isn't that bad really; in fact sometimes a little bit of stress can be good if it we need to do something like sitting an exam that requires a lot of effort. It is only when mental stress is too much for our capabilities that it really becomes a problem. For many of us who spent years in the midst of addiction our way of dealing with stress was to stay numb to the worst of the stress effects. When we enter recovery our feelings defrost and suddenly we feel raw and everything can quickly get on top of us. We no longer have our addiction to run to so we are trapped. If the stress becomes too much some people deal with it the only way they know and they relapse back to addiction.

When we enter addiction we must find new ways of dealing with stress. Here are some of the things that have worked for me to break the cycle between addiction and stress;

- Go for a walk; it is amazing how a bit of air and a change of scenery can make us feel better.

- Listen to your favorite music; simple but surprisingly useful.

- Exercise; fantastic way of clearing the mind

- Meditate; the path to stress free living.

- Talk to a friend about your problems.

- Write about how you feel; this has saved me from madness so many times.

- Try and do something for somebody else; the best way of escaping our problems.

- Watch a good film or play a computer game.

- Buy a punch bag and use it.

The main thing is that you don't drink or use again. If you really feel like relapsing just wait for another 24 hours and see what happens. We cannot easily remove all the causes of stress in our life but we can deal with them better and stop being a ping-pong ball between addiction and stress.