Creating New Healthy Habits After Your Accident

Let’s face facts: An injury accident can really throw you off your game. You may experience mobility issues while you’re recovering, possibly needing help with basic tasks like eating or dressing. If your injuries are permanent, you may have to adapt to a “new normal” with your daily life. It’s quite common to experience depression and a lack of motivation during this time—to “let yourself go,” if you will.

But if you give in to the temptation to “give up,” it could actually make things worse for you in the long run. If you fall into bad health during this time, it can slow down your recovery at best—and cause more life-altering complications at worst. That’s why it’s important not only to focus on physical healing but also on restoring balance in other areas of life after a traumatic event such as this. So let’s look at some practical ways to do this.

Establish a New Routine

Granted, your injuries might have changed the way you go about your daily life—but that doesn’t mean you can’t set up new patterns for yourself. Part of establishing healthy habits means making them part of your everyday existence. Giving yourself a routine to follow each day will stop you from feeling “stuck” and give you a new sense of rhythm for your life. It will also make it much easier to stick to your newly formed healthy habits.

Eat Less Sugar and Refined Carbs

Good food helps your body heal—so start giving your body the tools it needs for recovery. Reduce your intake of processed food, refined carbs, and products with high sugar content. Focus on vegetables and healthy proteins. A licensed dietitian may be able to advise you on some specific foods to eat to promote healing. Feeding your body the right foods is one of the best things you can do to promote health and healing.

Rebuild Strength Safely with Strategic Exercise

Your exercise regimen will probably look different because of your physical injuries—but that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t exercise. (If you didn’t have an exercise plan before your accident, you should have one now!) A physical therapist is the best person to advise you on what types of exercises you can do to strengthen your muscles and improve your stamina without aggravating your injuries. Once you have a good exercise routine designed for your needs—practice it diligently. It will facilitate your physical healing as well as improve your mood.

Minimize “Doomscrolling”

A relatively new phenomenon in our world, “doomscrolling” is the habit of scrolling through your news and social media feeds and focusing on all the bad news you can find. Millions of people now suffer from this habit, and it’s affecting the mental health even of those who are otherwise healthy. It certainly doesn’t do you any favors when you’re recovering from an injury. If you find yourself obsessing over the bad news and social media arguments, put your phone away for a while.

Take at Least 10 Minutes a Day for Self-Care

Your mental health is just as important to your recovery as your physical health. Give yourself the gift of self-care by setting aside time each day to relax and unwind. It will also help you “reset” yourself after a long day, allowing you to perform better on your routines for eating and exercising–and making it easier to stick with them. If you’re struggling with anxiety or depression after your accident, and you find that you’re not coping well–develop some mindfulness techniques or talk with a therapist to process your feelings. Even a calm soak in the tub can help you hit the reset button.

Brighten One Person’s Day

One of the best ways to regain perspective during difficult times is to turn our focus away from ourselves and toward others. Each day, look for a way to do a simple kindness to someone else. You’ll be amazed at what this simple habit does to improve your own mood and attitude—and a positive outlook is key to rapid recovery.

Find Three Moments of Joy Each Day

The recovery process after an accident can be long, grueling, and difficult. It can become easy to lose perspective, especially on days where you’re struggling to maintain your new habits. But there is still joy to be found in the moments of life, and finding those moments is key to helping you keep going through the tough times. At the end of each day, look back and identify three great things that happened to you that day. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how often those great moments show up when you start looking for them.

Bonus tip: Find one thing that you truly love to do and add it to your daily routine. That way, you always have something to look forward to.

If your injury accident was caused by someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation to cover all aspects of your treatment and recovery process, as well as pain and suffering. The attorneys at the McCraw Law Group have extensive experience in helping clients receive the settlements they deserve. Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss your case.