Every now and again, I like to do a good deep clean of my house, getting into all those forgotten nooks and crannies. The small space around the outside of the faucet, the dark pit of the refrigerator, along all the baseboards where a layer of dust has collected, and the tippy-top of the ceilings where ghost spiders have left feathery webs.
I do all of the little odd jobs that my husband doesn't even dream needs done. Now, I don’t get congratulated for doing any of this (though I usually wish I could get some type of award). What I do get, perhaps even more precious is this: a clean freaking house.
Really clean.
The kind of clean that doesn’t just look clean, it feels clean.
And my recovery is just like this. Sometimes I need to get in there and give it a good, old-fashioned scrub down. Like our bathtubs now that we live in the South in murky, moldy mountain woods.
Sometimes my recovery from addiction and other mental health challenges needs a refresh and a little re-invigorating.
Sometimes I get tired.
Burnt out.
And I know it’s time for a little freshening up.
In the spirit of cleaning, and in the spirit of the Bright Story Shine Community, I’ve created your Guide to Shine with a list of 10 Practical Ways to Make Your Recovery Shine.
What are some real-life ways to help address the burn-out in recovery?
How can we make our recovery shine—whether we are new to the journey or have been trudging this road for some time?
Get ready, because if you like lists, this one’s for you! Here are 10 things that have helped me that I want to share with you.