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5 Ways to Earn an Income While in Addiction Recovery

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Addiction recovery is a restart, a renewal, and a rebirth. It's the time to reinvent yourself, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes after hitting rock bottom. While some addicts and alcoholics are high functioning, most addicts are not able to hold down regular jobs or function normally outside of their addiction. The addiction creeps into their everyday life and disrupts their responsibilities. They're unable to commit to their families or keep their homes and careers.

Sound familiar to you? If you're new to recovery and searching for that first job opportunity to recreate yourself, you'll still need money to make ends meet.

Of course, now that you've decided to work as an independent contractor or freelancer, you should consider setting up a home office to maximize productivity when working from home. Your home is full of distractions, so you'll want to find the right workspace where you won't be tempted to distract yourself with sleep, cooking, TV, or lounging. Treat your home office like a real office, even if it's just a corner in your bedroom.

Tutor (for Academics)
If you excelled at school or earned high standardized test scores, you could become a tutor. Tutors can work as freelancers or teach for a test prep program like Kaplan or Princeton Review, as long your own scores were well above average. If you've been out of school for a while, then you should take practice tests to see what today's students are taking.

Students need tutoring in individual subjects as well. Some kids need help writing college essays, and many kids need help understanding complicated math assignments. Because they're lucrative subjects in high demand, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects are the most popular areas for tutoring. If you're tech-proficient, why not use your tech skills to be a freelance web developer as well?

Music Instructor (for Musicians)
You would need proper accreditation to teach in an academic setting, but you can still teach music privately if you're a skilled and experienced musician. Share your knowledge, passion, and enthusiasm with others if you enjoy teaching, have patience, and are proficient in technique and theory. Find a music school that's hiring teachers, or post ads for private lessons. To make it easier for students, offer online lessons via video chat or in-home lessons. The latter means you don't need an office or studio for lessons.

Etsy Shop (for Artists)
Etsy.com is the go-to shopping site for lovers of handmade goods by artists, crafters, and creators of all kinds. More handmade goods are bought and sold on Etsy than any other online platform. Clothes, jewelry, accessories, bath products, holiday items, home décor, art, photography, wedding supplies, and more are sold on Etsy. If you can make it, you can sell it. Even non-creators can sell items in the vintage section. Making money on Etsy doesn't come overnight. It takes consistency in quality products, good photos, and self-promotion.

Pet Sitter (for Animal Lovers)
If your idea of a perfect day is playing with animals, then pet sitting is for you. What better way to make money than to spend time with animals? It's not only a good way to earn an income, but it can also improve your mental health.

Fitness Instructor/Coach (for Athletes)
Fitness buffs, yoga enthusiasts, Pilates fanatics, and weight-lifting aficionados: why not turn your passion into a profession by offering personal training or teaching classes? Becoming a certified fitness instructor takes some effort, but you don't need prior education. Some specialty programs, like Pop Pilates or Zumba, have their own training programs that can be completed in one day.

Just because a career hasn't landed on your lap doesn't mean that you have to remain unemployed or get stuck doing a job that you can't stand. You can make a fulfilling living by finding gigs you feel passionate about. Don't sit around waiting for work to come; hit the ground running and make a job happen for you.


Monica Smith

Monica Smith is excited to have found her new passion in sobriety: carpentry. She thinks anyone who finds a career or project to work on that brings them a sense of peace can find the same sense of stability that she has found.

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