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Self-care for parents in recovery is not selfish, it is a core part of emotional sobriety.

For many recovering parents, alcohol or drugs once served as “me time,” an escape, or self-medication.

Summer can be restorative and also disrupt routines and increase stress, social pressure, and overstimulation.

These parents may need to intentionally schedule self-care instead of waiting until they are depleted.

This is the 6th post in the Parents in Recovery series.

Summer is a favorite season for so many of us. It is often viewed as a time to slow down, vacation, spend time outdoors, and recharge. For parents, however, summer can also mean disrupted routines, increased childcare demands, family travel, social events, and financial pressure. This season can also increase social media-induced FOMO; everyone else is somehow relaxing or vacationing more successfully.

For parents in recovery, this season can hold both opportunity and risk. Longer days, time outside, and a break from the usual pace. At the same time, vacations, barbecues, beach days, family gatherings, and looser structure can also bring exposure to alcohol, overstimulation, and social fatigue.

This is why self-care is not optional

An important distinction is that self-care in recovery is not about spa days, massages, or temporary relief. Those activities may be enjoyable, but recovery-based self-care needs to go deeper. It involves learning how to care for one’s physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, social, and environmental needs in ways that support long-term physical and emotional sobriety. Audre Lorde wrote, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.” That statement captures the stakes for many people in recovery.........

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