How are you keeping a routine during this epidemic? I have been staying indoors for a few weeks. I have my 5 year old daughter and I’m running out of things to do to keep her occupied. We live on a property with lots of nature to explore but the weather has been terrible. I’m 70 days sober, got out of treatment about 10 days ago, we’re staying with family until I get my own place again and stuff out of storage (everything from my old apartment was moved into storage when I decided to go to treatment) no one in my house drinks alcohol so there’s no triggers but my boredom and stress has been triggering. I do NOT want to drink because I never want to have that crazy obsession again, plus when I relapsed it was bad bad, like homeless bad. but times are tough right now and I’ve been spending a lot of time on my phone and trying to keep my daughter occupied. I would love to know what you’re all doing to keep a good routine.
I have been attending online meetings. But I haven’t been reaching out to my sponsor because I feel like she’s going to lecture me on my lack of recovery lol…
Wake up, take breakfast, train for 1h, take shower, clean house, put some music, work on my website, 12h start to make lunch for me, wife and daughter, watch a movie after lunch, train for more 1h, take shower, play some elder scrolls online for a few hours, 19h dinnner (always soup)…watch 1 or 2 movies after dinner, when all are sleeping, put some music and get back to my drawings until 2 or 3 am, the day after, same routine. Keep ocupied and keep focus not to lose my sht…to much time locked, only go out if realy necessary , buy food and put trash out. Tomorrow will be diferent, making a tattoo for my daughter and she will make one to me.
Me and my daughter are running out of things to do as well. This rain has been killing us and we’re also outdoors people. Here’s what we’ve been doing: we made little finger tea sandwiches with stuff we had in the house then had a tea party, painting pictures on whatever paper or cardboard we can find, planting seeds indoors, playing board games, reading books, baking anything we can come up with, cooking things we normally wouldn’t because they’re time consuming, learning. Sign language via YouTube and binging movies. Hopefully that gives you some ideas to do indoors and keep busy. I’ve also been doing home workouts and meditation to help keep myself on track. Good luck! You can do it!
Routine…
Wake up a read through meditation.
Add to my gratitude list.
Text someone I love.
Stop and ask God (Whatever you like to refer to as a Higher Power, the Universe) what the goal is today. Work constantly asking what the next right thing is.
Call my sponsor and anyone else I’ve committed to talk to… NO MATTER WHAT.
Thank the Universe or my Higher Power for another day.
One day away from this and I slowly start fade into that suicidal madness of my addictions slowly… day by day.
That’s my first priority.
Second with my 5 kids. Board games, Life, Monopoly, Yahtzee, puzzles have been great. Hide and seek. A lot of video calls with Gramma.
Good post.
Would like to read more about this.
I’ve been struggling those past weeks when all my life activities were cancelled. Structure went down. Now slowly getting back on track and started to look for a simple morning routine. Just for say, today I had the goal to make my bed, open the curtains and make coffee and breakfast for my girlfriend. My other goal of the day is to find a routine that sounds good to me, that includes the basics of moving (stretches and workout), eating, cleaning, reflecting and working a bit on school stuff.
I don’t understand why I can’t fall into, or create a new routine for myself. It feels like I’m in an alcohol-free, but numb space, and have been for about 3 months.
The big one is making a point of waking up, showering and shaving before my first 8 am meeting every day.
Some are growing their beards out, but for me a clean shave is this subtle reminder that it’s morning time. Just can’t get rolling till I’m cleaned up and ready to go!
So far so good! At least not drifting into being a night owl as I’d normally be. At least until the weekend comes, lol.
Still working from home, so also making sure to take lunch at the same time everyday away from my desk. So easy to become a screen zombie…
Wake up.
Get dressed quickly.
Coffee, banana, plain toast for breakfast.
Get on the train to work and study or sleep.
Work.
Go to park for lunch.
Work.
Go home by train. Study on the train.
Eat dinner.
Give son a bath.
Shower.
Study or watch tv.
Change diapers.
Attempt to sleep.
Repeat.
Wake up ( if I was able to sleep and not already awake)
Check messages etc.
Make tea, never been a breakfast person
Read and listen to news
Read obsessively about politics
Step out to snap a photo or two
Cook or bake something
Eat something
Binge on Netflix, now audiobooks
Listen to music throughout the day
Read about politics obsessively
Find something to watch to put me to sleep
Read about politics
No sleep
Rinse and repeat
In the past several weeks my routine has been roll out of bed at some unknown hour, feed my cat, look longingly at my coffee pot which has been unused for the past 42 days, then take a few vitamins, and try to zone out for the rest of the day in any way possible to stop thinking about the misery of withdrawal.
This week I finally decided enough was enough and I made myself some rules to follow before leaving the bedroom:
Do some light body exercises like stretching and yoga type things. Doesn’t have to be a lot, just enough to loosen up.
Make bed.
Get ready for the day as if I was meeting people. Shower at least every other day. No more languishing in my PJs and spending days without showering.
Do these things while listening to music that I enjoy and not the economic news of the day (which is something that I tend to do). The music helps my dopamine levels and helps motivate me.
Drink a full glass of water–which I keep on my bedside table; a habit I developed once I became a heavy drinker and never got rid of.
After leaving my bedroom, I feed my cat, drink another full glass of water while taking all necessary vitamins, open all the blinds to let in the sun–I’ve been leaving them shut–and then meditate. Some days meditating is a struggle, but I’m using specific meditations by Dr. Joe Dispenza that are meant for mental work in changing perceptions and the like. They’re a little long, but I find them to be useful.
