16 Ways Life is Better When You’re Sober

It’s about living a healthier, happier, and more productive life. If you are just learning how to live sober, it is ever important to know that you are not alone. There are people in similar shoes as you, who also desire to make a positive change. They may be sitting next to you in your 12-step program or living in your sober dorm. Find friends who understand your struggle, and unlike your past drug-using buddies, will encourage you to succeed.

This structure and support – in combination with thoughtful, personal goals – are the driving force behind the recovery process. Recovery from alcohol and drug addiction can be full of ups and downs. You might stay sober for years and relapse following the sudden loss of a loved one. Other unexpected life events can cause a relapse, which might make recovery seem impossible.

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Another tool that’s available for recovering addicts is aftercare programs. At Lighthouse Recovery Institute, we believe in integrating aftercare recovery programs to assist in long-term sobriety beyond our comprehensive treatment plans. Through these programs, we include life skills classes, relapse prevention techniques, and other treatments to help those in sobriety find joy and purpose in life. In order to minimize the risk of relapse, it is important https://stylevanity.com/2023/07/top-5-questions-to-ask-yourself-when-choosing-sober-house.html to focus on developing life skills to support sobriety throughout recovery. Emphasizing life skill development not only enhances the recovery experience, but also equips a person with the tools needed to support sobriety after treatment is completed. A focus on life skills is vital to success because it not only helps a person manage their own needs, but it helps them prioritize obligations and responsibilities in order to have a productive life.

Getting sober is when someone stops using an intoxicating substance. It can include a medically-supervised detox, various forms of treatment, including therapy and 12-step programs, and calling upon family, friends, and professionals for additional support. Sobriety can be a fixed-term goal (i.e., staying sober for Dry January) or a lifelong goal (living a sober lifestyle or staying sober from all substances).

I learned how to have fun without the use of drugs or alcohol.

Before you know it, you’ll choose not to physically take care of yourself at all. The only way to get you out of this rut of not taking care of yourself is sobriety. Although the media may make getting drunk and using drugs seem appealing and fun, the effects of abusing substances are not. Staying sober requires a person to dive deeper and begin unraveling why they were using the substance, their triggers for relapse, and how to avoid falling into a pattern of use again. Toxic relationships are those in which you feel unheard, misunderstood, unsupported, demeaned, unsafe, or attacked. Both old habits and unhealthy relationships can trigger those negative emotional states that may increase the risk of relapse.

• Make your to-do list a part of your routine, and stick to it.
• To ensure that your second chance at life doesn’t go to waste, focus on self-improvement.
• You can remember everything and not feel that sense of terror of waking up and not remembering what you said or did the previous night.
• Dr Carrie Wilkens, co-founder and director of the Center for Motivation and Change in New York, which specializes in motivational and cognitive-behavioral treatments for alcohol use disorders, agrees.

For many people with a substance use disorder, it’s simply a matter of never having learned the appropriate way to manage anger. Talk to your therapist, other healthcare provider, or sponsor about how to deal with your anger in ways that won’t cause you to harm yourself or others or turn to alcohol or drugs. One study found that mutual support groups can be as effective as 12-step programs and may help improve the odds of success for people who are committed to maintaining a lifetime of total abstinence. You might have a strong support system of loved ones and family members to help you in your sobriety. Or, you might need time to build a support system if your addiction negatively impacted friends and family members.

I learned what is important in life and what isn’t.

During inpatient addiction treatment, you might have gone through detox and learned about co-occurring mental health issues related to alcohol and substance use disorders. After treatment, getting back into the real world can be scary. Much like any other goal in life, long-term sobriety is more manageable in small parts. Take one step at a time and break everything into shorter goals. Look at sobriety in stages, from detox to addiction treatment to sober living to everyday life. Living a sober life will give you way more time than living with addiction.

This may mean that you don’t spend time with someone you used to use drugs with or go somewhere you used to drink. You might take a new way home from work, for example, to keep from going past your favorite old hangout. Spend time with family and friends who will support your recovery and provide positive reinforcement. One of the best things you can do to help with maintaining a sober life is to help others. It can be something as simple as volunteering at a local shelter or soup kitchen, or it can be something more involved like working with a local organization that helps people with addiction.

When you feel sobriety means having a chance to enjoy an improved, healthier and more fulfilling life, you’re more likely to do everything you can to keep up with the practices you learned in treatment. At its core, substance abuse is often a result of self-hatred. Maybe you used to abuse drugs and alcohol because you didn’t like yourself and you were trying to be someone else. Or maybe you hated yourself because you couldn’t stop abusing substances. Either way, as you continue living a sober life, you may learn how to love yourself (flaws and all), respect yourself, and feel confident and good about the new decisions you’re making. That’s why Recovery Centers of America (RCA) offers a range of addiction treatment options to help individuals overcome their addiction.

If you’ve been in the throes of addictive behaviors for some time, you may be used to chaos and high-stress situations. Getting sober will remove some chaos and stress, but staying sober will require finding a balance between self-care and external responsibilities. If it seems like being sober is all about letting go, bear in mind this doesn’t mean you will be alone. With less toxicity in your life, you open space for building healthy relationships that are genuinely supportive and nourishing.