How to Stay Sober: 10 Tips Aftercare

Use your time to spread the good word of clear-headedness to others. Plus, community service can be a valuable recovery tool. It also creates a sense of community and adds a certain sense of self-worth that can only be felt when lending a hand.

You might also prefer to drink coffee, tea, a seltzer with fresh fruit, or a soda with fresh lemon or lime. Once you start to reap the benefits of not drinking, it may be easier to opt for alternatives since your body may be feeling better without alcohol. Decide what you’ll say if someone asks why you’re sober. You can try to avoid the conversation, but it’s good to have a response ready in case that’s not possible. If the question comes from someone you know well, you may want to say that drugs or alcohol became a problem for you, so you’re staying away from them. If you don’t know the person well, simply saying you have to get up early the next morning or you quit for health reasons should be enough.

Exercise

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. Recovery is about much more than living a drug or alcohol-free life. Addiction recovery is about learning how to live life on life’s terms.

Prayer is a way to speak openly and honestly and put into words what you’re feeling in the moment. Two hugely negative emotions that undoubtedly contribute to relapse is “shame” and “guilt”. It’s not a denial of who you are or what you’ve done, but a celebration of who you are now and how far you’ve come. Holding on to your shame and guilt will lead you down a path of depression that is almost certainly going to lead you to a relapse. Let those emotions go and focus on what’s ahead of you. There are very few illnesses and ailments yoga won’t cure.

How to Stay Sober

When a craving starts to build, take out your list and ask yourself what you’re really feeling deep down. Then, address the feeling without resorting to your Selecting the Most Suitable Sober House for Addiction Recovery addictive behavior using the healthy responses you have included in your list. Just being sober for 28 days does not always constitute successful recovery.

Most addiction support groups are peer-run without the guidance of a professional. You might find that group therapy benefits you more if you need the guidance of a therapist for mental health, social, emotional, or relationship issues. Treatment centers can help to keep you safe from the triggers and stressors in your everyday life. Sober living homes can be the next step after completing a treatment program. After a sober living program, the time it may take you to get back in the “real world” may vary in comparison to others. Staying sober long-term takes self-care, getting support, a relapse prevention plan, and committing to healthy living.

It Takes Time to Sober Up

You feel better overall as your body continues to heal. Your cravings are manageable, especially if you’ve figured out ways to replace alcohol with solid alternatives. Short-term sobriety is a temporary period of sobriety. Movements like Sober September serve as a reset or cleanse after periods of heavy drinking. It may be a way to kick off long-term sobriety or test out what staying sober might feel like.

As Brown was finding success and career momentum, alcohol was becoming a double-edged sword. He was drinking a fair amount, but not in a way that stood out from his industry peers. “I was now finding this community and teaching people how to drink, and it was kind of messed up,” he said.

It is thought that by cooling down, your metabolism may speed up to keep you warm, but the cold actually slows it down. – The stimulating caffeine in coffee may make you feel more alert and aware of your surroundings, but it won’t make you any less intoxicated. It also contains powerful anti-intoxicants that may help reduce the severity of your alcohol induced symptoms. However, caffeine can act as a diuretic, causing you to become more dehydrated, and prolonging your hangover. If you’ve ever had a heavy night and fretted over driving the next day, you will probably have totted up how much you drank, and arrived at an estimated time when you would be legally safe to drive. You may have also looked into how to speed the process up.

• Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) involves experiencing withdrawal symptoms that persist past the detox period.
• “Exercise will boost mood and decrease anxiety and depression.
• Although these new activities are healthy and productive, they can be a stumbling block to lasting recovery if they become a transfer addiction to fill the void left by the original addiction.