Life requires skills. We often take for granted the many different skills we have excelled in developing over time because of how normal they become. Try to remember learning how to drive a car. Now, you get in your car almost every day and are skilled in being able to drive.
Basic Skills Are a Part of Life
You might not be a mechanic who has the skill to take care of their own car- those are different skills. Basic skills for life are the way that we function every single day. For most people who aren’t struggling with a mental health disorder, life skills aren’t even skills, they are just part of life.
People who have develop addiction or alcoholism have not refined those skills. When their brains are taken over by the need to consume drugs and alcohol, they refine those skills instead. According to the miswiring of their brains, the skills for consuming as much drugs and alcohol as possible is much more important than participating in small life skills that matter.
People are often surprised in their recovery by who deeply their addiction affected them. Even during times of day when they weren’t “high” they were affected by their substances of choice. Being awake and aware without drugs and alcohol for the first time is often a shock at how under the influence they were most of the time.
Simple skills like regular hygiene, grocery shopping, and managing bills can feel extremely overwhelming in the immediate weeks after getting clean and sober. Life skills are an important part of treatment because people in treatment are raw for learning and creating new habits.
Life Skills can Include
- Making the bed
- Doing laundry
- Cleaning the room
- Cleaning the bathroom
- Keep a room tidy
- Adhering to a schedule
- Making a schedule
- Prioritizing time
- Time management
- Making appointments
- Planning travel
- Cooking
- Budgeting for groceries
- Grocery shopping
- Stress Management
- Communication
- And more
Lakehouse Recovery Center strives to enable clients to live a happy and fulfilling life in recovery. Our residential treatment programs are designed to help clients heal the mind, and the body, while repairing the spirit through learning to have fun again without drugs and alcohol. For information, call us today: 877.762.3707