Preventing Relapse: The Importance of Your Daily Schedule
Implementing a consistent daily and weekly schedule is vital to our overall health and wellbeing and critical for maintaining sobriety. Whether we are just starting our recovery journeys or are years in, it’s the consistency of our habits and schedules that allows us to achieve our goals and feel satisfied with our lives.
Some of us find comfort in routines, while others shudder at the idea of being locked into a set schedule, but having a healthy routine, especially during times of stress, unpredictability and early sobriety, will help us more easily navigate challenging times and keep us from feeling overwhelmed.
Here are 5 steps to help you create a healthy daily and weekly schedule to feel in control of your life, more focused, less stressed and on track to complete short- and long-term goals.
Step 1: Set Your Sleep Schedule
Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day is vital for our health and wellbeing. Just like traveling to a different time zone gives us jetlag, waking up two hours late one day and then staying up late another day throws off our circadian rhythms and makes us feel groggy and less focused throughout the day.
While there isn’t one perfect time for everyone to wake up in the morning, it is vital that you determine a schedule that you can stick to at least 6 days a week that ideally allows you at least 8 hours of sleep each night. For example, if you feel most focused in the mornings or want to prioritize morning alone time or exercise, you might find that going to bed by 10:00 pm every night and waking up at 6:00 am is your ideal schedule, even on the weekends. But if you’re more of a night owl, you might feel better going to bed at 11:30 pm or midnight and waking up at 8:00 am or 8:30 am. If you are a shift worker, you will likely need to set a vastly different schedule, but whatever you choose, make sure it’s consistent.
If you are currently unemployed or have a very flexible work schedule, resist the urge to lean into staying up too late. Research shows that being awake while the sun is up and going to bed a few hours after sunset helps us maintain a healthy sleep schedule and feel more rested and awake during the day.
Step 2: Lock In Your Work Schedule
Since many of us have set work schedules, whether we’re on the typical 9-5 workday, work from home, or work alternative shifts, this is the second natural anchor point for our daily and weekly schedules. Paired with your ideal sleep schedule, your work schedule will determine when you have free time to do daily life tasks, spend time with friends and family, and work on achieving your goals outside of work.
If you are currently unemployed or have a very flexible work schedule where you can set your own hours, it is important to still maintain a consistent weekly schedule, so you’re not left wondering or stressing about when you should be working or applying to jobs. The fewer daily decisions we have to make about what to do next, the more productive we are and the more control we have over our days.
Related: Get Motivated With Mini Goals
Step 3: Make Time For Daily and Weekly Life Tasks
While it might sound obvious, it’s important to factor time into your schedule for daily chores and personal hygiene. For example, make sure to schedule in enough time before work in the morning to make breakfast, shower, take your dog for a walk, get your kids ready for school and any other tasks you like to complete in the morning. Similarly, at night make sure to schedule in time to do household chores, make and eat dinner, and relax and unwind at the end of the day.
Similarly to having a consistent sleep schedule, having a consistent meal schedule also sets you up to feel your best. Our bodies like the predictability of having meals at about the same time every day, and eating regularly and not skipping meals will keep your stress levels down and help you feel clear-headed and grounded.
If you have weekends off, you can schedule a ‘life day’ on Saturday or Sunday where you take care of weekly chores, food prep for the week, grocery shop and do any other tasks that you don’t have time to do on a busy weeknight. This will help you feel prepared and confident going into the week ahead.
Step 4: Prioritize Self-Care, Hobbies & Social Time
Once you’ve scheduled your work and general life to-do’s, it’s important to make room in your schedule for things that you enjoy that benefit your physical and mental health. Whether it’s reading for 30 minutes before bed every night with a warm cup of tea to de-stress, taking your kids to the playground every Saturday, attending regular yoga classes or going to the gym after work three days a week, it’s important to make regular exercise, sober social time and self-care a part of your daily and weekly routines.
Related: Move More, Stress Less
Step 5: Avoid Old Habits and Routines
While building a healthy schedule with steps 1-4 will set you up for success day-to-day, it’s also important to remember that your schedule cannot involve the habits, people and places that used to support your addiction. For example, you might need to pick a new route to work or home to avoid passing by places you used to use, and social time cannot be with your old drinking buddies.
Related: Preventing Relapse: Identifying Your Personal Triggers
It’s hard to create several new habits at once, so choose 1-2 of the steps above to focus on first. If you don’t have a consistent sleep schedule, start there, and then add one other element of a healthy schedule every month to create a good daily and weekly routine over time.
If you want more help kick starting positive change and building a healthier lifestyle, our FREE Resilience Toolkit is for you!
Experiencing positive change and personal growth is all about reducing the negative pressures of stress, worry and fear in our daily lives. This gives us more energy to invest in building a healthy, fulfilling lifestyle through personal strength, confidence, self-worth, communication skills, emotional literacy and mindfulness skills. These skills help us stay resilient and open to positive change and growth, and our resilience toolkit is a collection of worksheets, exercises and articles to help us foster personal growth and build happier, healthier lives.
Written by Liz Haas, Recovery Resources Outreach Specialist
