Simple 5-Minute Tasks to Support Your Sobriety

Sobriety requires ongoing effort on your part. Many recovery activities are long, challenging tasks that involve concerted mental, emotional, and physical effort. Fortunately, for those who lead busy and demanding lives, this isn’t true for every recovery task.

If you have just five minutes to spare in the day, there are plenty of things you can do to further your recovery.

Time to Take Five

These simple actions offer amazing benefits for both your health and happiness, plus they help to keep your recovery on track. Here are a few:

• Five minutes of gratitude:
  End your day with a brief exercise in gratitude cultivation. Review your day and think about three good things that happened. Reflect on them in your mind or write them down in a gratitude journal. Developing an attitude of gratitude leads to optimism, boosts self-control, and brings joy.
• Five minutes of listening:
  Are you working on relationship restoration as part of your recovery? Taking just five minutes to intentionally listen to your spouse, child, or friend can develop a more loving relationship.
• Five minutes of savoring:
  How chaotic are your days? Do you take time to stop and smell the roses? Spend a few minutes savoring a delicious entrée, enjoying a massage, or taking in a beautiful sunset. Psychologists report that savoring a good experience for even five seconds will add that good feeling to your long-term memory storage.
• Five minutes of personal hygiene:
  Let’s be honest. How often do you take the extra time to floss? Condition your hair? Get a really good shave? Good personal hygiene will enhance your physical health as well as provide a boost to your confidence and self-esteem.
• Five minutes of task-mastering:
  It’s easy to put off challenging tasks, but this procrastination can be costly. If there’s something you’ve been avoiding, commit to working on it for just five minutes at a time. Whether it’s job searching, finding a sponsor, or even non-recovery related tasks like cleaning your garage, nibbling away at this chore will help you conquer procrastination and complete essential to-do’s.
• Five minutes of moving:
  How active is your day? If you spend a large part of your day sitting, it’s important to get up and move around at least every hour. Take a brief walk. Stretch. Jog around your house. These simple, frequent exercise breaks can lift your mood and prevent lethargy.
• Five minutes of prayer or meditation:
  Prayer allows you to unload your burdens. Meditating on spiritual truths brings rest and peace. These are extremely helpful as you cope with the turmoil of recovery.

Ready to get started? Why not “take five” right now?