How to Get Sober and Stay Sober
Walk through your day-in-the-life scenario and imagine what it looks like to have lost your sobriety and goals. Imagine the conversations you’ll have with friends on why you did it. One of the biggest perks about sobriety is being able to think ahead, long-term.
Spend Time With Real Friends & Family
For with changes comes adjustments, which can be challenging. So it may take some time before you truly feel content in your new life. But the following insights may ease your journey and improve your outlook. Any big life change naturally brings a sense of fear or unease. According to Merriam-Webster, being sober simply means abstaining from alcohol and drugs.
- For some, it means complete abstinence from all substances, while others may focus on quitting a specific substance, like alcohol, while still using others like nicotine or caffeine.
- A journey can begin with community mutual-help groups, inpatient treatment, residential rehab, outpatient programs, and more.
- Right now, you’re freaking out about some hypothetical future social life because sobriety is a big change, and that little liquor demon in your brain is trying to talk you out of it.
- It necessitates hard work, determination, and a commitment to personal growth.
They Don’t Know Who They are Without Alcohol
Second, it’s essential to reach out to a support system. If you have friends or family members who are sober, they can be a great source of support and information. Additionally, there are many different sober support groups that you can join. These groups can give you the support and encouragement needed to overcome your fears. If you’re scared of becoming sober, there are a few things that you can do to ease your fears. First, it’s important to educate yourself about sobriety.
Navigating Through Social Discrimination While in Recovery
Lift weights, run the treadmill, or utilize the pool to swim laps. This goes hand-in-hand with journaling, but you can use a scrapbook, make notes on your phone/notepad, anything, but the main purpose is to give your future self fear of being sober mementos of why you became sober. A large network of support is necessary to stay sober, but your biggest supporter needs to be you. For many people who complete their stay at a rehabilitation center, therapy becomes part of the outpatient program.
Are Your Parents to Blame for Your Addiction?
For years, I worried about the impact of sobriety on my social life. I honestly did not know what people did for fun without being slightly or very drunk. Or maybe, on some level, you don’t believe you’re worthy of success. If you’ve done some major damage in your past, you might feel like you don’t deserve to be happy and healthy. It sounds like a weird thing to be afraid of, but it’s very real. Don’t let difficult decisions and conversations with loved ones be the excuse you use to keep drinking alcohol.
- We will also discuss various strategies for developing coping skills, support systems, and maintaining a sober lifestyle.
- Sober living is so much more peaceful than living a life of binging and regretting the use of drugs or alcohol the night before.
- If you’re scared of becoming sober because you’re afraid of change, it’s important to remember that change is a necessary part of recovery.
- This is the hard part, but it’s also the most rewarding.
- Located in Boise, Idaho, Northpoint Recovery is proud to offer quality drug and alcohol detox as well as alcohol and drug rehab and mental health treatment programs in the Treasure Valley.
- These people know that the days are hard right now, but they endure because they also know that, eventually, they will come out on top.
- But it’s not an easy road—becoming and staying sober requires commitment, self-awareness, support, and perseverance.
Anyone who takes the steps towards getting sober ABSOLUTELY deserves constant recognition, celebration, and support. 89% of people who complete alcohol treatment stay sober for the first month after rehab, with a success rate of 68% for those entering detox beforehand. Staying sober can be a challenge, as it often requires breaking habits and making lifestyle changes. It also means saying goodbye to familiar coping mechanisms and learning new ways of dealing with stress. Relapse prevention techniques are effective strategies to help individuals stay away from addictive behaviors.
So here’s a deep dive into the many reasons people struggle on their unique paths to sobriety as well as insights on how to overcome the fears and challenges they’ll likely meet along the way. While sobriety is well worth the effort required to achieve it, choosing sobriety is a significant endeavor that requires courage, difficult conversations, and significant life changes. This is a great statistic that shows the effectiveness of alcohol treatment programs. It is important to note that the success rate is higher for those who enter detox before treatment. This suggests that detox is an important step in the recovery process. Despite these obstacles, sobriety can bring many positive changes and ultimately lead to a healthier life.