Image via Pexels

Recovery from addiction is a multifaceted journey, one that can be riddled with complexities and challenges. Within this odyssey, stability often emerges as a beacon of hope, illuminating the path forward. A stable living environment not only offers refuge but also fosters empowerment, fostering an environment where recovery can thrive. In this article from Marjorie Jones of Working Class Wow, we will delve into the myriad ways in which a stable living environment plays a transformative role in addiction rehabilitation.

1. Minimizing Exposure to Triggers

Living in a stable environment acts as a protective shield, reducing one’s exposure to drug-related triggers. By providing a sanctuary away from external pressures and temptations, individuals are less inclined to succumb to relapse. It becomes paramount, therefore, to prioritize creating a living space that is both secure and conducive to recovery, shielding individuals from potential pitfalls.

2. Fostering Supportive Connections

One of the unsung heroes of recovery is the network of supportive relationships that surround an individual. A stable environment serves as a platform from which individuals can reconnect with loved ones, drawing strength from their encouragement and understanding. These connections, forged in the fires of adversity, can be the lifelines that pull individuals back from the precipice of relapse.

3. Financial Security as a Shield

Financial stability is a crucial component of recovery, complementing emotional and physical healing. A stable living environment frequently fosters this financial predictability, reducing the risk of returning to addiction as a means to cope with financial challenges. This financial stability brings about a sense of peace, alleviating daily stresses. Moreover, it offers a robust foundation for individuals, allowing them to reconstruct their lives unhindered by the burdens of addiction. This combination of emotional, physical, and financial equilibrium is vital for a holistic recovery journey.

4. Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Choices

Living a balanced life is synonymous with ongoing recovery. Stability propels individuals towards healthier choices, such as consistent exercise and a nutritious diet. These daily decisions, while they may seem minor, amass over time and significantly enhance one’s overall well-being. Such a strengthened state of being equips individuals to resist potential relapses effectively.

5. Community and Positive Role Models

No one is an island, and in recovery, this rings especially true. Stable living environments often intersect with communities of like-minded individuals, all journeying toward a common goal of sobriety. These interactions, both meaningful and mundane, offer individuals invaluable role models and provide an irreplaceable support system to lean on during challenging times.

6. Rehabilitation Centers as a Lifeline

Relapses, while disheartening, are not the end of the road. There’s always the option to seek professional intervention, such as entering or reentering a rehabilitation center. When considering the treatment options available, it’s vital to assess various factors like insurances accepted, accommodations, accreditations, treatment approaches, location, and feedback from previous patients to ensure it aligns with individual needs.

7. Finding a New Apartment for Stability

Establishing a new place can be a beacon of stability in the tumultuous sea of recovery. The process, while potentially daunting, is made easier by focusing on key steps. Identifying a suitable location, exploring online listings, and determining affordability all play a role in ensuring that the new apartment serves as a sanctuary for rehabilitation.

Stability, in all its forms, emerges as an unsung hero in the narrative of addiction rehabilitation. As we’ve explored, whether it’s shielding individuals from triggers, fostering invaluable relationships, or encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, the power of a stable environment cannot be underestimated. As you or your loved ones traverse the path of recovery, remember that with the foundational strength of stability, a fulfilling, sober life is not just a possibility, but a promising reality.

Here’s a sure-fire way to turn holiday cheer into nightmare:  have a heart attack.  As it turns out, heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems increase around the holidays.  Research indicates that the peak days for cardiac deaths are December 25, 26 and January 1^st.  Here’s why:

1. People postpone doctor visits around the holidays. Or they forget to take their medication as ordinary routines are disrupted.
2. Winter brings about viruses with symptoms that include restriction of blood vessels.
3. The holidays come with travel and annual family gatherings that can be stressful.
4. Holiday meals, particularly if high in salt, can trigger cardiac problems. So can alcohol, and New Year’s Eve is sometimes the one day of the year that some drink when they are otherwise teetotalers.

Now that we’ve explored the risks, let’s discuss the warning signs of heart trouble.

1. Chest pain. The discomfort can manifest itself as weight applied to the chest.  Sometimes the pain is in the left arm, neck or jaw.  There can also be shortness of breath.
2. For women, symptoms include nausea, lightheadedness, back pain and fatigue.
3. Swelling in legs, stomach bloating, dry cough and loss of appetite are also symptoms.

When in doubt, seek care.  The earlier care is sought, the better the outcomes.

photo by pexels.com

Working remote is the thing.  There’s nothing like rolling out of bed and pounding out a day’s work while still in your pajamas.  No office politics, no commute, no dry-cleaning bill, what could go wrong?

Just a few things.  Your routine is completely disrupted.  There’s a certain discipline about showing up to work every day and looking sharp.  When do you go to the gym?  On your way home from work, or on the way there.  Now you don’t go to work, so you don’t go to the gym.  And wasn’t it closed anyway for Covid?  So you got out of the habit.

And you got into the habit of snacking all day because you’re home all day and the food is right there.  Don’t even go near the scale.

This may not turn out the way you wanted.  Let’s make a plan so your remote work doesn’t spiral into a disaster.

1. Keep moving. You just saved all that commute time.  That makes for a new time window for exercise that you may not have had before.  Since people can’t see you while you’re working, you could be on a treadmill while you work.  Or sitting on one of those exercise balls instead of a chair.  Not all day, but once in a while.  Which leads to….
2. Turn off your camera. If you’re on a video call, maybe they don’t need to see you and you keep moving while you’re on that call.
3. Find a buddy. If you need a little encouragement to get out for a walk in January, connect with a like-minded buddy.
4. Get out of Dodge. Or at least get out of your living room.  Get dressed, go out and join the real world before moss starts to grow on you.
5. Think of food as fuel. Watch the snacking.  Be deliberate.  Perhaps set aside hours where snacking is not allowed.  Place barriers between you and the food.  Maybe those barriers are psychological but they could be physical too.  But the good stuff on a high shelf so it’s inconvenient to access so you won’t just grab something as you walk past.
6. Escape when necessary. Maybe your spouse is working from home.  Maybe that’s great, but maybe it isn’t.  If it’s getting a little crowded, alter your schedule.  Be an early riser getting up ahead of everyone else so you can have the house to yourself while everyone else is still sleeping.  Or become a night owl if everyone is already an early riser.
7. Get out of your pajamas. It’s hard to feel like a super-power when you look like a slouch.  Get dressed enough so that you’re ready to go out spontaneously.  It doesn’t have to be what you wore to the office, but it should be something that if you decided to go grocery shopping, you wouldn’t have to change clothes first.
8. Be in tune to yourself. This list is designed to get you thinking.  Remote work can be a blessing, but there are pitfalls.  Those pitfalls could be unique to you.  We may have hit upon some potential problems but missed others.  Be thoughtful and deliberate about how you conduct your remote work and don’t allow bad habits to develop.

Need a little space for your home office?  Consider Catalina Crossing in Madison.

Photo by pexels

It didn’t use to be well-known that indoor air quality was often lower than outdoor air quality. Most people assumed that just because they have gotten rid of the dust inside their homes, the air inside those homes was less polluted than the air outside the home.

Today, we are realizing that this is not true.

According to Nelson Management Company,  there are often more sources of air pollution inside the home than outside it. They include everyday things we use for combustion, such as gas, wood, kerosene, and tobacco products. These release toxic fumes that can harm the home’s occupants.

Other sources of air pollution in the home are treated wood products found in cabinetry and furniture; fumes from household cleaning and personal care products; toxic gases emitted by building materials, and outdoor sources like radon or lawn pesticides.

HVAC systems can also worsen the indoor air quality issues of a home. That is because of the relative lack of air circulation inside the home compared to outside it. This problem is due to the way HVAC systems are designed to work.

To maintain the home temperature at the desired levels, the HVAC requires limited airflow between the outside and inside of the home. Sealing up the openings, joints and cracks where air can enter or exit keeps cooled or warmed air from escaping.

But this limited ventilation has unintended consequences. The same air is recycled inside the home over and over with the result that the concentration of air pollutants often reaches very high levels. That is in contrast to what is happening outside the home.

To compound the issues, most people spend up to 90% of their time inside a climate-controlled building, making them more likely to suffer from respiratory problems. Unknown to these people, they are more at risk of exposure to air pollution inside their homes than outside.

Is there anything you can do about the problem?

6 ways tenants and property managers can improve apartment air quality

1.      Clean carpets and furniture regularly

Carpets and furniture are massive contributors to homes’ poor indoor air quality issues because of their ability to trap air pollutants. Regular cleaning of the carpets and furniture in the home using a vacuum cleaner will limit this problem.

2.      Limit or eliminate toxic products

Check household cleaning and personal care products to make sure they don’t contain toxic ingredients. Ventilate the home every time you use a cleaning product. If possible, use only untreated wood inside the house. If anyone has to smoke, let them do it in a well-ventilated area.

3.      Replace filters when necessary

Dirty filters impede the ability of your HVAC to clean incoming air. Air filters are designed to trap the particles in the air, but those particles are reintroduced into the home if the filters are not cleaned or replaced as needed. Dirty air filters also impair the HVAC function.  Decker Properties changes the filters for you on a programmed basis.  Just another thing you don’t have to worry about.

Click here for a filter source.

4.      Ventilate the kitchen when cooking

Smoke from the kitchen and cooking oil fumes are two of the biggest causes of air pollution in the home. It is impossible to eliminate kitchen smoke and oil fumes from the home. But you can ensure they are completely removed by ensuring the windows are open. This allows fresh air to circulate through your apartment, flushing out stale air.

5.      Pay attention to humidity levels

A lot of water vapor is released into the air during shower times (especially hot showers). This water vapor does not go away when you leave the shower. It lingers for a long time. Mold and dust mites can cause respiratory problems, allergies, and other health issues.

To prevent this from happening, it’s essential to control humidity levels in your apartment. You can do this using dehumidifiers or opening windows and doors to let in fresh air. It’s also essential to promptly fix any leaks or water damage in your apartment.

6.      Use natural cleaning products

Cleaning products can contain various harmful chemicals contributing to poor indoor air quality. To reduce the level of harmful chemicals in your apartment, switch to natural cleaning products.

Natural cleaning products such as vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice can be used to clean surfaces effectively and safely. Additionally, you can use air-purifying plants, such as spider plants, peace lilies, and Boston ferns, to improve air quality naturally

Inflation is high.  Covid is still around.  Trouble abounds.  Sometimes it’s hard to stay optimistic amongst all the bad news.  But you can change that, here’s how:

1. Turn off the bad news. This could be the news feed on your phone, the nightly television broadcast or the daily newspaper.  But if there’s a regular source of bad new that’s causing you anxiety, shut it off.
2. Turn off the bad friends. Dump the Debbie Downers.  If you have a friend that’s inclined to pessimism, put some distance between you and them.  If that’s not possible, try changing the subject when they start down bad memory lane.  At the very least, prep yourself before you’re around them – you know what to expect.
3. Savor the good. Create a mental inventory of the times you knocked it out of the park or even just had a good time to be the thing you reflect on.  You can’t merely stop thinking bad thoughts – you have to substitute better thoughts.
4. Rethink the negative. Just miss your flight?  Maybe it gives you another day in town to connect with an old friend.  Seek to change lemons into lemonade.
5. Reframe expectations. Certain relatives, friends or bosses are how they are.  They’re not going to change.  Stop getting upset about it.
6. Write it down. Still anxious?  Get out a piece of paper and write down the things provoking your anxiety.  This is a world beater.  Sometimes you can feel anxious and not even know why.  Writing down the cause(s) of your trouble(s) makes the next step obvious and easy.
7. Write down what has to happen in number six for that problem to go away. Then get busy.
8. Learn to accept what cannot be changed. Stop beating your head against walls that are bigger than you.  This goes right along with reframing expectations.
9. Stop comparing yourself to others. There will always be someone seemingly richer, skinnier, more charming and better looking than you.  Stop looking for/at these folks.  This is where social media can be such a disaster.  Someone snaps a pic of themselves on their best moment ever and then uploads that like it’s just another day.  And the operative word here is seemingly.  You don’t know what you don’t know about how these people’s lives might be completely screwed up in ways that you can’t see.  Turn this junk off.
10. Be grateful. Born in the USA?  Congratulations!  Despite all our troubles, this is the best place and time to live in all recorded history.  If you woke up on the right side of the grass, it’s another day the sun can shine on you.  Make your own list of stuff to be grateful for – your health, spouse, kids, house, friends, job.  90% of the world’s population would do just about anything to trade places with you.

You’ve been juggling those job offers, amping up your side hustle, setting up a home office or just slogging it out in the daily understaffed grind and wow, you could use a little time off to recover your sanity.  So let’s do this.  Here are five tips on how to plan a mental health day.

1. Think plan. Try to know your pace.  Don’t wait until you are at the verge of a mental breakdown before you schedule some down time.
2. Think discipline. Make an appointment with yourself for this day off.  This appointment is just as important as anything else on your schedule.  Know in advance that something is going to come up that will seem easy to address if you just dump your mental health day (MHD).  Don’t do it.
3. Think private. Don’t tell anyone you’re taking an MHD.  Do tell your associates that you will be out, “attending to personal business” or some other vague plan but just exactly what you are doing on your days off is no one’s business.  If you tell your coworkers that you’re taking an MHD, someone is going to say, “I can’t believe _______ took a mental health day when everything is on fire around here.”  Of course things are on fire.  They will be tomorrow too.  And the next day, and the next.
4. Think Zen. Your MHD is not supposed to be crammed with errands, binge watching TV or surfing the internet all day.  Get a massage, read a book, go for a walk, reconnect with an old friend but otherwise slow down for a day and set aside some quality time.
5. Think Outside. Fresh air and sunshine can be just the right medicine.

If you don’t take a break sometimes, you break down.  Plan a mental health day instead.

How do you keep your apartment is top condition while making sure you don’t expose yourself to this virus? Here are five ideas:

1. Send in a picture. What you don’t want is maintenance staff coming to your apartment to do nothing more than to assess the problem. That’s potentially more people in your apartment more often for longer.
2. Trouble-shoot over the phone. For the same reasons. Again, the better you can describe the problem, the less time and number of times maintenance staff will be in your apartment.
3. Close off rooms that maintenance staff do not need to enter.
4. Request that maintenance staff wear masks and gloves. This is standard at Decker Properties. Elsewhere, you may have to ask.
5. Arrange to not be at home when maintenance staff arrives. For individuals working from home, this may be difficult. But the maintenance appointment could be a good time for a break or to run errands. Either way, it’s better that you not be there. It appears that the virus can only live four hours on a surface. Therefore, perhaps the safest procedure would be to be gone all day working and schedule maintenance first thing in the morning after you leave.

   Often, residents prefer to be home when maintenance is servicing their apartment. This is understandable under ordinary circumstance, but Covid is not an ordinary circumstance. It’s better that you not be there. If you are working from home or for whatever reasons can’t be gone when maintenance services your apartment, then you need to wear a mask too.