Sobriety Strategies: 13 Tips for Staying Sober

It could jeopardize your job or chances for an amazing career. Once addiction deepens, many addicts can not even hold a steady job. If you are lucky enough being sober around drinkers to still be employed, try to fix the situation while it is still possible. It’s also worth inviting supportive friends and family to these celebrations.

• We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be ‘perfect’ in recovery.
• Breathwork, meditation, and yoga are all some ways you can work on your emotional regulation outside of a healthcare provider’s office.
• That question—about addiction’s seemingly intractable power—lies at the heart of America’s epidemic of substance abuse, which over the past two decades has claimed more than 700,000 lives.
• If your hobbies involve other people (like sports), it can be a great way to connect with healthy people too.

All of these reasons are motivation to living a better life, but maybe the thought of a better life is the original motivation for your sobriety. While it may seem selfish to some, it’s a fabulous and justified reason. Being in recovery can and will improve every aspect of your life. It’s important to know that sobriety is difficult for everyone.

Avoid People Who Are a Bad Influence

The less downtime you have, the less likely you are to suffer a relapse. This does not mean, however, that you have to be perpetually busy. It means having balance in one’s life, for rest, productive work, and play. 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. Elsten decided to quit drinking after a troublesome journey with alcohol.

A journey can begin with community mutual-help groups, inpatient treatment, residential rehab, outpatient programs, and more. Depending on the severity of addiction and readiness to change, different options may be beneficial for different people. But seeking a professional opinion on where to get started can help alleviate and address your particular fears. Addiction recovery is tough work, and it’s not uncommon to experience slip-ups before achieving complete sobriety.

The Rise of ‘Sober But’, the Dry January Where You Still Do Drugs

Recognizing this need for change means taking into account how drugs or alcohol have been causing problems in areas of your life. It’s OK if a person returns to this step many times on their journey toward sobriety. One thing that is clear in all this though, is that more people are making commitments to abstain than ever. Dry January going mainstream is just one symptom of a broader social shift about sobriety. Casual sobriety is on the rise, and a significant number of young people are reportedly trying to cut back on drinking and drugs – January or not.

Arguably, what’s at the root of this shift is a developing understanding of addiction and substance abuse. There’s more awareness around dependency than ever now, and many people are cutting back on substances to regain control and purpose, long before “hitting rock bottom”. Staying sober is a lot harder to do when you do the same routines or go to the same places where your substance use disorder began. Stay away from friends who still use drugs or who cannot support your sobriety. There are various signs of relapse and if you know what they are, you can potentially stop one before it starts. Some relapse warning signs include increased stress or anxiety, engaging in compulsive behaviors, changes in eating or sleeping patterns, or increased cravings to use drugs or alcohol.