Sobriety Strategies: 13 Tips for Staying Sober

After nearly a year of treatment, she gathered enough courage to apply for a waitressing job at a local café. The café’s lively crew of regulars welcomed her with open arms—more recovery capital. Several years later, Dana opened a café of her own, where she now hires people in recovery. Dana witnessed substance abuse in her family growing up, was bullied at school, then endured physical and emotional abuse in multiple relationships with men. Treatment helped her cope with that trauma and the further trauma caused by her years of addiction. Graduating from residential treatment, he was told to attend daily 12-step meetings for 90 days.

It can be uncomfortable, and sometimes, boring. We don’t like to focus on that for fear of inciting relapse, but the truth is recovery is all about acknowledgement – the good and the bad. Recovery from any addiction is hard in a myriad of psychological ways. I truly believed there was no hope for me and that I was somehow special.

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You wake up maybe slightly or completely hungover. Up-up-up I’d tick, flirting with the idea of having a drink even though I said I was going to quit. The goal of our series, and our ongoing https://ecosoberhouse.com/sober-house-boston/ coverage, is to bring that message of hope everywhere it’s needed. Despite the chronic nature of addiction, recovery is possible with the right treatment, support and resources.

And those patients aren’t recovering from an illness that’s gone on for however long we drank and used. In my first 90 days, I wrote a list of things I must accomplish by the time I had one year of sobriety, including publish a book and meet my future husband. My ambition was amazing, but I didn’t take into consideration that I was in recovery. You know what I accomplished in my first year of sobriety?

What Makes Early Sobriety So Difficult? – Staying Sober the First Year

Understanding the potential causes of relapse can help you or your loved one become more aware of the potential triggers that exist in life. However, they do lay a robust framework that will help suffering individuals take the best preventative actions toward health and sobriety. Again, if you’re fearing a relapse due https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/5-great-tips-for-being-sober-around-drinkers/ to guilt, distress and shame, then close your eyes and imagine this scenario. Picture your past self standing before you, then take your love and compassion and hold it in a ball of light in front of you. In your imagination, give the ball to your past self and watch as your love surrounds and eventually engulfs them.

There are so many physical and psychological reasons why people aren’t able to tame this beast. The other stuff would’ve worked themselves out eventually if I’d have had the support networks in place to deal with them. Or a single ounce of receptivity to things I wasn’t trying to hear. I’d gotten pretty good at repelling people, so what few friends I held onto heard about every single other kind of problem I had, but never this.

Therapy

If a funeral is too difficult for you to attend right now, feel confident to say you can’t attend. If a wedding is happening, but you’re worried about being surrounded by alcohol, then politely decline to attend. Don’t be afraid to say no and take care of yourself. How do you feel about yourself when you’re drinking or using drugs? Maybe not, especially if your substance use has become a problem. Getting and staying sober can change the way you look at yourself.

Your guide to a good night’s rest, Bible verses, stories, and tips to settle in at the end of the day. End each day with a peaceful spirit with 100 beautiful devotions focused on helping you let go, rest in God’s grace and get a good night’s sleep. At last, in 2007, she was arrested while trying to buy drugs.

Seeking Help to Stay Sober

In the beginning stages of recovery, we are constantly trying to reevaluate life and what we want out of it now that we are becoming free of the chains that held us down. We don’t know what that life will be or if it will be successful. Oftentimes, we’ve made a lot of poor choices through our addiction which can lessen our self-worth or the trust we have in ourselves to make “good” decisions.

• For example, your friends can say they support your sober living journey and avoid offering substances to you.
• We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be ‘perfect’ in recovery.
• The hot sauce rule is important for two reasons.
• It involves going to meetings, working the steps and helping those newer than you.
• If you’re involved in a 12-step program, you likely already know the importance of milestones.

The basic disease model of addiction says that plenty of people use drugs or alcohol to medicate their problems away. If this sounds like you, you might be surprised to find out how much more effectively you can deal with things sober. It might feel like drinking or using drugs makes your problems go away, but as anyone who’s struggled with addiction knows, this is just an illusion. When you commit to sobriety, you can actually solve your problems instead of ignoring them.

You have more free time.

For nearly a decade, he was an alcoholic and drug addict in Vancouver. Regaining emotional balance and amassing recovery capital take far longer than the standard 28 days of rehab depicted on television. Treatment at Harbour Light lasts as long as three years, with patients gradually progressing to greater independence.

• Any time I managed to get a week or two of sober days under my belt, I usually collapsed under the weight of boredom.
• Again, if you’re fearing a relapse due to guilt, distress and shame, then close your eyes and imagine this scenario.