If you’re in a place in your life where you’re transitioning out of an unhealthy situation, it’s difficult to imagine that life can be different. But it can. You have the power to lay down a strong foundation that will determine your future, one that is healthy, happy, and filled with purpose and joy. When you have a strong foundation, you set yourself up for success, and even when you fail, it’s easier to get back up and keep moving forward. Here’s how to get the building started:
Get Help
No one gets through life alone, especially not a happy, healthy, purpose-driven life. Alone, people often suffer, flounder, and fail over and over again. It is without a support system that so many people end up turning to addictive behaviors, whether you struggle with drugs, alcohol, food, risky sexual behaviors, or something else entirely. Then, it feels impossible to change those behaviors without a community of loving people behind you.
So, get help, and get real. Open up to your friends and family members about your struggles. As painful as it may be, cut toxic people who encourage or enable your addictions out of your life. Look into therapy or counseling to get lasting tools to stay in recovery. And, if your struggle is with drugs or alcohol, you may want to consider in-patient treatment for substance abuse, which can help you break negative patterns and get onto the right footing.
Create a Routine
Getting help is a critical first layer in your foundation. From there, it’s time to create healthy habits on a predictable schedule you can rely on. A chaotic schedule without a routine may leave you floundering with too much open space, too many options, and nothing to hold onto. This chaos can easily lead you back to abusive or addictive behaviors. Your goal is to break yourself entirely out of that old life and create a new one.
Try to make a schedule you can stick to. You don’t have to wake up at 5 am every morning if that’s not realistic for you. But the natural human sleep and wake cycle calls for a wake-up time between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., so aim for that. Get out of bed and do some form of exercise. Keep healthy food in your house, so you don’t turn to junk food that will make you feel bad about yourself. And make sure your work schedule is regular enough to build around it.
Acquire Lasting Skills
Speaking of work, a critical part of a strong foundation for a healthy life is having work you find rewarding and that you can always count on. This is the primary difference between having a job and having a profession or a trade. With a job, if you lose it for any reason, it can be difficult to find another one. With a trade or a profession, you are more likely to find work regardless of what happens at one company or even with the economy.
This reality is especially true if you’re good at what you do. So, as you build your foundation, you might consider going back to school to gain new skills or enhance the ones you already have. You may find a new passion and purpose in advanced learning classes and make new connections that can help you enter the workforce in new ways. Then, you can spend your professional life doing something you enjoy that provides a product or service other people need.
Make Self-Care a Priority
Of course, life is not all about work. You also need to take care of yourself on a personal level. Far too many people bury themselves in work, which then becomes another addictive behavior, which, in turn, leads to still other addictive behaviors. Finding work-life balance means that, while you do engage in rewarding work, you also set clear boundaries around your personal life and adopt healthy, rewarding habits there as well.
In your personal life, self-care may at times mean bubble baths and chocolate bars, but it also, mostly, means truly taking care of yourself. This looks like paying your bills on time, keeping your house clean, and keeping yourself nourished. You also want to make sure you’re going to the dentist and the doctor for regular check-ups. Take a weekly yoga or spinning class, sit in a cafe alone with a good book, or go for a hike. Remind yourself you’re worthy of love, especially your own.
Take It One Step at a Time
One of the most important parts of building a strong foundation for a healthy future is teaching yourself to forgive yourself when you fail. Building anything happens in fits and starts, and for someone coming from an unhealthy, unstable background, that can be unsettling. So prepare for the inevitable roadblocks, triggers, and failures. Rather than expecting perfection from yourself, just promise that when you fall, you’ll get back up again. Ultimately, the work you do on yourself and in your life now to move forward in happy, healthy ways. Think of your foundation as an ongoing project you revisit over the years, one you revisit regularly to add new habits and improve on or take away ones that no longer serve you. Keep in mind that this new life you’re creating is meant to support you as your best self. You will spend the rest of your life “becoming” that self, so take your time and enjoy the journey.
