Admiral William H. McRaven delivered a commencement address to the 2014 graduating class at The University of Texas at Austin and gave them invaluable advice. Famously, the admiral told the graduates: “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”
Recovery is a matter of the building and rebuilding of habits. Among many other labels and definitions, addiction functions as a series of dysfunctional habits by way of thinking and by way of doing. Every single facet of treatment and rules of sober living exist to help create new, functional, and productive habits. Through building a habitual foundation for our recovery, we create a platform from which we can be of service to the world. We learn that staying sober and maintaining abstinence is both the smallest and the biggest task of our recovery. Admiral McRaven points out that by doing the small things right in our daily lives, we can do the big things right as well.
He explains that by doing something as seemingly simple as making your bed in the morning, you set yourself up to continue accomplishing necessary tasks thought out the day. “By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”
Get Enough Sleep
Getting out of bed in order to make the bed means getting up willingly and energetically. Getting out of bed is made much easier with a thorough night’s sleep. For better habit building, go to sleep around the same time every night and wake up generally around the same time every morning, allowing for about 8 hours of sleep.
Attitude Of Gratitude
The practice of gratitude is scientifically proven to benefit your mental health and wellbeing as well as make your day a little bit better. Practicing gratitude is not a physical practice but a mental, emotional, and spiritual one which builds your foundation of perception in everyday life to be more positive, optimistic, and forward-thinking.
Don’t Drink or Use
We cannot build habits toward our recovery without building the primary habits of abstinence, which are not to drink or use every single day. We learn to not pick up, no matter what is happening to us, to others, or in the world around us. Our main motive in life is to stay sober and reach our hand out to those who are looking for sobriety as well.
Origins Behavioral Healthcare is a well-known care provider offering a range of treatment programs targeting the recovery from substance abuse, mental health issues, and beyond. Our primary mission is to provide a clear path to a life of healing and restoration. We offer renowned clinical care for addiction and have the compassion and professional expertise to guide you toward lasting sobriety.
For information on our programs,
call us today: 561-841-1296.