There are a lot of stresses when someone is going through recovery. Taking the time to address each of the different aspects and dimensions of someone’s recovery is important, through the use of either individual therapy, group therapy, or utilizing someone’s own personal support systems. Coping with these stresses takes time and effort, and so it can be helpful to avoid additional stresses during this time when possible, and even take a break from it all from time to time.

Every person needs time to rejuvenate and clear their minds. So take the time to disconnect. Schedule an outing where someone isn’t glued to their computer or phone, and instead live without the internet, and thus without the larger stresses of the world.

Temptation in Availability

Using the internet for social networking has become more and more convenient with each passing year. With a few clicks, someone can find a friend or read news from halfway around the world. While this convenience has brought people closer together, it has also highlighted a lot of stresses that wouldn’t have otherwise wouldn’t exist to the same extent. The internet is something that is constantly available, and as a result, is something that is easy to escape into.

However, just because someone feels like they are getting away from some of their own stresses doesn’t mean that they are living a life devoid of stress at all. The internet, and all of its convenience, also contains a lot of stress-inducing stories, as portrayed by social media movements, constantly updating news articles, and even personal friends and relationships that are updating their lives in real-time. Not only are each of these things becoming more prevalent each and every day, but finding these stories is also getting easier with each technological development.

Exposure to Negative News

News agencies know that someone is more likely to click on their article if the article seems more dramatic in some way. Because of this, headlines and photographs can make scenarios seem more devastating than the reality of the situation may be.

As a result, when someone is met with a wall of news, all the articles and images together can create a very intimidating collage of disaster and skew someone’s outlook on the world as a whole. After all, if the world is seen as such a dangerous place, filled to the brim with so much tragedy, it can sap motivation from someone to recover and rejoin that world at large.

Constant exposure to these media portrayals, regardless of their validity, can inform someone’s entire outlook and mindset. Recovery requires a mind that is open to change and hopeful for a better future in order to be as effective as possible, and if someone is constantly viewing a wall of other difficulties in every other part of the world, it can compromise someone’s motivation to continue recovering at all.

Inviting Internet Comparisons

Using the internet, and especially social media, as an escape tool can also lead someone to begin comparing themselves to the pictures and feats of those on the internet. People will often post stories and images of themselves in the best possible light, and it can be difficult to look at others’ successes and not want to compare oneself to the people around them. However, this mindset of constant comparison and competition can deny someone information about the context of the posts, and instead, look only at the results garnered.

Not everyone’s goals are going to be the same, and everyone’s story is unique in how they develop. Constantly comparing oneself to someone else’s life denies a person their own identity and ignores any amount of personal progress that they may have made.

Even people who have made massive strides through their recovery can be left feeling bad about themselves despite their valuable achievements. Recovery is a personal journey of someone finding their own self-actualization, and as a result, can’t be fairly compared to another person.

Nor should it be. Each success that someone experiences should be praised on their own merits and celebrated as an accomplishment of overcoming the trials that they themselves had to face. Disconnecting from the internet and social media can be a breath of fresh air–both literally and figuratively. A mindset that is consistently plagued by the troubles of world news or constant, unfair comparisons between oneself and the images on their social media feed can inhibit one’s motivation.

While these things can be used as an escape tool, knowing how to moderate one’s use of them and the different factors at play can help someone understand the filters through which they are viewing things, and ultimately keep themselves motivated to continue on their own personal journey.

This journey is unique to each person and doesn’t need to involve the disasters of the world at large or the details of someone else’s life. Recovery is an individual journey that is defined by the person affected most and success is measured based on their own trials.

If you or a loved one are struggling with an addiction and any co-occurring mental health disorders, The Kimberly Center is designed to help you take the first step. Each person’s journey through recovery is different and The Kimberly Center has programs from sober living to intensive outpatient that can all be specifically curated to your unique needs and goals. Their holistic approach to recovery addresses more than someone’s addiction–it includes the person’s own history and interests as a core part of their healing in order for them to develop their own plan for self-actualization. For more information on how The Kimberly Center can help you, contact one of their professional, caring staff today at (855) 452-3683.