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How to Stress Less in Recovery

There’s no sugarcoating it: maintaining recovery is challenging sometimes. Whether you’re newly sober or years into your journey, stress creeps in—through your job, relationships, finances, or even your thoughts. When you’re trying to safeguard yourself from relapse, the impact of stress isn’t just uncomfortable—it can be dangerous. 

But not all stress is created equal. Learning to understand it, spot the difference between helpful and harmful kinds, and use the right tools to manage it can be a game-changer for your long-term healing.

Understanding Stress: It’s Not All Bad

Stress is your body’s natural response to challenge or change. It’s not always a villain. In fact, in small doses, stress can be motivating, energizing, and even healthy. It sharpens focus, drives action, and prepares your body to rise to the occasion. This version is called eustress—a term coined by endocrinologist Hans Selye. Eustress can show up when you’re excited about a new opportunity, learning a different skill, or even pushing through a tough workout. It’s short-term, manageable, and often leads to growth.

On the flip side is distress, which is what we’re all more familiar with. It’s the heavy kind—chronic worry, fear, frustration, or exhaustion. When you’re in recovery, distress might come from withdrawal symptoms, navigating triggers, rebuilding relationships, or coping with past trauma. Unlike eustress, distress overwhelms rather than energizes. Left unchecked, it might increase the risk of relapse by weakening your mental, emotional, and physical reserves.

Why Knowing the Difference Matters

This isn’t just a cool psychological concept—it’s a survival skill in recovery. If you can label what kind of stress you’re feeling, you can better respond to it.

  • Eustress signals that you’re challenged but capable. It’s a green light to keep going.
  • Distress is a red flag. It means it’s time to slow down, regroup, and support yourself differently.

The tricky part? They can feel similar in the body: a racing heart, tight chest, shallow breathing. The difference is in how you experience the stress—do you feel motivated, or like you’re about to snap?

Proactive Techniques to Stress Less in Recovery

Realistically, stress will always be part of life, but it doesn’t have to control you. But you can develop a healthier response to it. Here are a few proactive strategies to help you manage stress more effectively.

1. Build a Daily Recovery Routine

Structure reduces uncertainty, and uncertainty fuels stress. A consistent routine can help ground your days and reduce mental chaos. Include things like:

  • Regular wake/sleep times
  • Time for physical activity
  • Daily check-ins (journaling, meditation, or prayer)
  • Attending support meetings or therapy sessions

The more of a regular rhythm you create, the less room stress has to hijack your day.

2. Identify Your Stress Signals Early

Do you clench your jaw? Withdraw from people? Reach for junk food? Stress shows up differently for everyone. Pay attention to your warning signs so you can intervene early—before the stress spirals. This might mean calling your sponsor, taking a walk, or journaling instead of reaching for old habits.

3. Practice Mindful Distraction

Sometimes, the healthiest response to stress is simply stepping away. Listen to music, cook a new recipe, take a cold shower, go for a bike ride—anything that shifts your focus and releases tension. This isn’t avoidance—it’s regulation. It gives your brain space to reset before you re-engage.

4. Reframe Negative Thoughts

Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches that how we think about stress matters just as much as the stress itself. When you catch yourself spiraling—“I can’t handle this,” “This is too much”—pause. Replace the thought with something realistic and compassionate: “This is hard, but I’ve gotten through worse.” Over time, this rewiring builds emotional resilience.

5. Use the Power of the Breath

One of the fastest ways to calm your nervous system is through conscious breathing. Techniques like box breathing (inhale 4 seconds, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4) or 4-7-8 breathing can reduce anxiety in under a minute. Deep breathing signals to your body that you’re safe, helping shift you out of fight-or-flight mode.

6. Connect, Don’t Isolate

Long-lasting recovery thrives on connection. One of the biggest traps of stress is isolation—believing you have to tough it out alone. You don’t. Whether it’s a support group, a friend, a therapist, or a sponsor, reach out. Stress shared is often stress halved.

Learn Techniques for Life at Sobriety Centers of New Hampshire 

Our primary mission at Sobriety Centers of New Hampshire is to deliver high-quality, evidence-based treatment. Our board-certified professionals want you to be able to use what you learn during your time with us to establish a healthier path in life. We have three locations to serve you: 

  • The Antrim House in Antrim, a detoxification and residential treatment facility for men and women.
  • Recovery Mountain in Tilton, a residence for Veterans and first responders as part of outpatient programming.
  • The Lakes Addiction Treatment Center in Laconia, offers inpatient, outpatient, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient rehabilitation programs for men and women. 

Using even a few techniques above to stress less helps you recognize just how much power you have to choose the way you act and react. If this is the type of healing approach you’re ready for, call our admissions office today at (603) 932-5535.