What’s people’s thoughts on taking a week or 2 off in early recovery I’ve recently relasped by back on my 2nd day sober luckily my counselling therapy starts tomorrow but I’ve also been signed off from work for a week what are people’s thoughts?
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Do whatever you need to do to give yourself a chance at sobriety and recovery. Sometimes in depends on DOC and how active you are in it and what your withdrawals are going to be. But if you feel you need a week of possible a stress free environment where you can really focus on your detox and try and get your body right, i definitely say go for it. It all depends on yourself and what you feel. We all have done it differently here and not everyone’s strategy works for everyone else. Try and listen to your body, it definitely is going to need rest to heal and detox but sometimes people want to push that detox, sweat it out, keep there mind busy and away from idle time. It just depends on you. Coming off opiates I preferred a 2-3 day break from work, while slowly getting back to eating right, drinking plenty of water and slowly starting to work out to sweat out a detox and also tire my body out so even if my mind becomes my worst enemy and it definitely has at times, I’ll be to tired to do anything about it lol.
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Personally, if i had it to do over again from when I first sought help, I absolutely recommend it when paired with a program of recovery. Anything really, ideally something guided by others (counseling, IOP, SMART, AA/NA, some kind of group).
Years back I sought help for my DOC and did outpatient groups at night while still working. I had the option to take time off for recovery, paid, no questions asked, but didn’t take it.
Ended up too distracted by the day to day to focus on what mattered. Ultimately I fooled myself, thinking I had it all under control. It didn’t stick. Relapsed worse a couple months later and took a few years to come back around.
So I’d say if you can and have help, it’s a great idea. The more tools you can throw at recovery, the better, yeah? Not to mention it can take a little time to come back out of orbit.
As always, others’ mileage may vary.
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If the time off is spent focusing on establishing a strong sober foundation, then by all means, take the time.
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Yeah man cheers yeah man I understand that’s why I got a week off from the doctor my body and mind feels wrecked and plus the temptation seems a lot stronger forms with the pressure off work but living alone I’m trying to deal with all this myself and finding it exhausting
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Heh, yeah living a lone was/is a big part of it for me, too. For what it’s worth, maybe that’s why I found leaning on programs guided by others such a help. Really brought me out of that “me” place. A burden shared is a burden halved!
Yeah maybe some counselling and some volunteer enjoyable work would be the best route
I was just thinking today how I wish I could have done residential rehab. I would have loved time to focus just on me. But being at home would have been a problem. Work is my time away from temptation, but it also doesn’t let me have time for recovery either.
Work does make it tougher – but it also made me realize that sobriety needs to come first and second in my life -no matter what or there will be nothing else. It made me realize that this was something that I was going to have to fight for and wasn’t something that i could just do.
In the beginning, I was working minimum 65 hour weeks and usually more. Even with this, I was able to make 7 - 10 meetings a week, therapy, and then sessions with my recovery coach. For me, each of those things i did for my sobriety were non-negotiable and had to be done. Once I made them non-negotiable, I could figure out the remainder of my schedule around that.
Somehow, i have no clue how, I knew that if I tried to figure out how I could fit that stuff into my life-- there would never be enough time.
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I left my job to focus on recovery , when I start back to work it will be 6 months sober.
I found alot of the meetings and courses run by the alcohol recovery services were In the day and only during work hours. Taking the time during early recovery will definitely benefit you, but there are also AA meetings in the evening
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Taking just a few weeks off in the beginning to detox id recommend. Id was lucky enough to be able to. It was hard getting back into things but was manageable after 2 weeks. The first 2 weeks would have been nearly unmanageable and would have caused a relapse and more cravings. The easier you make it on yourself the easier it will be to manage. I think its a great idea!
Do whatever it takes, go to any lengths, as long as sobriety is the destination and you stick to it it’ll all work out in the long run.
I took a week off and so glad I did. I was lucky I could and just make sure you are getting a doctors sign off to protect your employment and then get to work at getting better.
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I hope you’re not working 65 hours per week now.
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