How to Compartamentalize Your Life in Recovery

When everyday problems and stress tie you up in knots and threaten to derail your carefully constructed life of newly-achieved sobriety, it may help to spend a little time to sort things out. Compartmentalizing tasks, problems, even free time, can reduce the pressure you feel and make your life seem less overwhelming. In business, it’s known as time management, but compartmentalizing easily translates to any occupation or way of life that can benefit from simplification. When you compartmentalize, you separate things – tasks, issues, problems, etc. – into distinct categories, divisions or blocks.

Here are some ways to help put order back into your life.

Divide Up Your Day

An easy method involves carving your day into 1-hour blocks of time. How does this work? From the moment you get up in the morning to the time you go to bed, allocate your day’s activities. If exercising takes 1 hour, put that down at a certain time each day. Give yourself an hour each for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you regularly check emails throughout the day, try scheduling 1 hour early in the day to read through and respond to all your emails, rather than waste time constantly going back and forth. Do the same thing for making and returning phone calls. Schedule a time to get this out of the way.

Running errands, going to a counseling session or group meeting, doing work or tasks around the house, going out to a movie or engaging in other recreational activity? All can be accommodated in the daily scheduling. If you need time each day for introspection or planning for the future, setting aside time to do that will help you to focus.

If your task is finished before the block of time you’ve allocated, then you have free time. Take a break, go for a walk, daydream or make plans. Don’t worry if this seems a little strange to begin with. You’ll soon find that you’re pretty good at figuring out how long it takes to accomplish routine tasks. What’s even better is that you will be amazed at how liberating it is to know that you will be able to get things done that are “on your list” without worrying that you’ll forget them.

Focus On One Thing At A Time

When you hear about people multi-tasking, sometimes it’s mentioned as a positive trait. Think about it, though. When you try to do two things at once, what happens? Your attention is divided, which means you aren’t doing quality work on either task, and it takes longer to get both done.

Instead, focus on a single project, issue, task or activity at a given time. Don’t allow the phone, email or other interruptions to distract you from your task. If you absolutely must answer the phone, get through the conversation quickly and then return to your task. You can always tell the caller you’ll call them back at a specific time – either your time allocated for making/returning phone calls or during your “free time.”

By focusing on one thing at a time you’ll enjoy the added benefit of crossing things off your To Do list. This gives you a sense of accomplishment and adds to your overall positive state of mind.

When Thoughts Or Problems Trouble You

There will inevitably be times when you just can’t push away the outside world, when negative thoughts or problems barge into your mind and life. What can you do to overcome them? Let’s take a few examples and see how they can be dealt with effectively.

• Perhaps you’re busy doing a project or chore at home when the mail comes and there are several past-due notices, cancellation of utilities, or high medical bills. Avoid the temptation to open them up and dwell on the problems. Set the bills and mail aside and leave them for your time block allocation to deal with financial issues, mail and correspondence. When you do attend to your bill-paying issues, you’ll be more focused and less stressed. Don’t let outside influences take over your life. You be in control of what to handle and when.

• You’re working on an important presentation for your boss’s boss and your immediate supervisor comes in with an urgent request he says trumps whatever you’re doing. He reminds you that you’re on shaky ground since you’ve been back, and hints that you’d better tow the line or you could be fired. You listen to what he has to say, tell him you’ll get right on the project and do your best work, and then do what he asks. Focus as completely as you can on the new assignment until it’s finished, and then go back to your original project if there’s any time left in your time block (i.e., work day). Don’t beat yourself up or engage in the negativity that individual tried to lay on you. Instead, focus on how proactively you handled the situation – and give yourself kudos for excellent compartmentalization.

• Relaxing with a book, meditating or just making plans, you’re suddenly interrupted by some old drug- or alcohol-using acquaintances that stop by unexpectedly. You really don’t want to and can’t be around these people, and just having them show up throws you for a loop. What should you do? Politely inform them that you have other plans, you have a doctor’s appointment to go to, or you’re not available to hang out, and ask them to leave. Be in control of your situation. This is your home, and you are in charge. Don’t let them intimidate or cajole you into activity that’s counter-productive to your recovery.

Focus On Positive Aspects Of Your Life

Recovery has its ups and downs, and you need to be prepared for them. When things look bleak, focus on what’s good in your life, the positive things you have accomplished. You made the tough decision to enter treatment, or accepted an intervention and went into treatment, you made it through detox and treatment and are in recovery. This is an extraordinary acomplishment! Don’t think for a minute that it isn’t. You’ve successfully overcome probably the most difficult hurdle in your life so far. Mark this as a big positive.

You have your health back, and/or are working hard to restore a healthy balance to your life through physical exercise, challenging mental stimulation, and constructive recreational activities. These are all positive aspects of your life.

Count the new friends you have made in treatment and support groups – or the new acquaintances you’ve found through joining new recreational, sports, educational or hobby groups. These are strong positive influences on your life.

Look at a physical reminder of what’s really important in your life. This could be a photo of your spouse or significant other, your children, parents or siblings.

Take time out to look through a scrapbook or vacation photos of a place that you really enjoyed.

Concentrate On Long-Term Goals

You have a second chance at a good life. In recovery, you need to make plans for the future, and strive every day to make some movement toward achieving those plans. It doesn’t matter if that long-term goal is to go back to school or university, complete a degree, learn a new skill or hobby, take up a sport, learn how to speak a foreign language, travel or whatever. The important point is to set aside time to first list or, later, revise your goals, as needed, and then to actually take steps to make the dream a reality.

Having a focus on long-term goals also helps you to feel less tied to any short-term problems or issues that are occurring today. Think of it another way. If you only look down, you can’t see where you’re going. If you don’t take a step forward, you’ll never get where you want to go. Having a goal and a plan of action means there’s always something good on your horizon.

Develop Techniques That Get You Back On Track

Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing something. Maybe you haven’t slept well the night before – troubled by recurring nightmares of using, or waking up with cravings – or your negative thoughts try to consume you. Try some of these techniques to get you back on track – or develop some of your own.

• Meditate – Do some deep breathing with your eyes closed and in a comfortable position. Shut out everything from your consciousness. Try to think about nothing at all except the sound of your breathing in and out. Do this for about 5 minutes anytime you feel overcome by stress or negative thoughts.

• Relaxation Techniques – Try yoga, acupuncture, or other holistic relaxation techniques. These can help relieve tension and eliminate stress, focus on overcoming pain or discomfort, help you to realign your mind-body-spirit balance.

• Physical Exercise – Get your body’s natural endorphins to kick in with some strenuous physical exercise. Ideally, make physical exercise a daily routine and schedule it in your time blocks. This can be a brisk hike or walk for 30 minutes, working out at the gym, playing basketball or another sport, or just doing aerobic or weight-bearing exercises at home.

• Call An Ally – Use your support network and call someone who knows you and what you’ve gone through. Enlist their help – maybe just to listen to you talk – and you’ll find that your problems aren’t so insurmountable after all. If you need help, ask for it from your 12-step group members. They’re ready and willing to help, just as you’d do for them.

Learn To Live In The Moment

One of the best ways to help compartmentalize your life and to realize many benefits is to live in the moment. How you do this is to completely devote your attention to what’s happening right now, today – not yesterday, or last week, and certainly not the time you nearly destroyed your life through drug or alcohol abuse.

Take the time to really look at the beauty of nature you see outside. When you are talking with someone, look them in the eyes and give them your complete attention. Be sure to listen to what they have to say instead of thinking about how you’ll respond. Chew your food slowly and appreciate the taste. If something feels really good, bask in that great feeling. If the moment is a bad one, recognize that the moment will pass.

In fact, much of this is good advice for everyone, not just those in recovery. Many of these tips and techniques can help us all to achieve a better balance and be in more control of our lives. But discover what works best for you and be creative in finding new ones.

Remember, tomorrow is another day. For those of us in recovery, what we do today and tomorrow is the stepping point to our future – the future we’ve dreamed of and planned for.

Tags: addiction recovery, tips