One of the most important requires of becoming sober is that you change some of the ways you live your life. This may be that you change your friendship circle, your diet, or perhaps you need to change your medication. People will often find that their jobs are not beneficial to their recovery process. There are a variety of reasons why your job may be conductive to your recovery; if your job has specific attributes, you may want to consider changing it if you are determined to stay on the road to recovery at a drug rehab clinic. Let’s look further into whether you need to find new employment after recovery, the importance of reducing stress levels, the potential dangers and the risk of exposure to addictive substances.
Stress Levels
A lot of us will find ourselves in a situation where we are attempting to find imperfect solutions for unreasonable expectations. We often work too many ours for far too little pay. This inevitably causes us a lot of stress. Unfortunately, stress is one of the biggest causes of cravings and relapse and if it can’t be kept under control, you are guaranteed to face problems during your recovery period.
It is certain that almost everyone would happily describe their job as stressful; however, some of the more obviously stressful jobs are in health care, finance, hospitality and food service. Those working in these stressful environments will require stimulants to get them through a long working day, as well as anti-depressants to help them unwind after work. But the long and short of it is; if you can’t handle the job you are in sober, then it is not for you.
Dangers
Jobs with injury risks are often associated with addiction. Working with minor or serious injuries will make people reliant on pain medication just to get them through the working day. There is also the added stress of job security; those who risk injury may well be put out of work should their injury be too severe. There are also jobs that require you to travel, which will keep you away from your sobriety aids and make the recovery much more difficult.
Exposure
There are many jobs that will put you in close contact with drugs or alcohol. Jobs in the health car or service industry (bars or restaurants) will often struggle with sobriety as the items they crave are in such easy access. We aren’t all blessed with the ability to choose our jobs, especially one that suits the requirements of our recovery processes. This means that we should consider reducing the hours we work, attending more meetings, as well as finding more productive methods to manage our stress.
Should you need any advice on changing employment or working through your recovery period in the job you have, contact an established and respected drug and alcohol rehab. They are able to provide consulting psychiatrists who can diagnose mental illnesses and guide those in recovery along the right path. These professionals are fully understand of almost every sobriety and recovery scenario and want to help anyone who is in need of it.
