Sobriety Strategies: 13 Tips for Staying Sober

If left unchecked, anger can have a negative impact on your health and your lasting sobriety. Now that you are sober, you may have discovered that some of your past relationships were not only unhealthy but downright toxic. It’s not just your drinking buddies and drug dealers who can get you into trouble—sometimes those who are closest to you can contribute to a relapse. But for most people, staying sober isn’t that straightforward. The more strategies you learn to identify triggers, cope with stress, and manage your new sober life, the easier it is to prevent relapse. There are many reasons for this, from previous patterns of alcohol use to brain chemistry.

• You have to also list simple things that are easily achievable like learning how to bake a cake, watching all of the Marvel movies again, or starting a journal.
• Before long you’ll happily accept the newfound peace that boredom can bring.
• Let’s learn why boredom is the enemy and what you can do to squash it.
• Start with going for walks for minutes every day.
• Talk to you next week, sobernation.com.
• In fact, when you first quit, it feels like everyone in the world is out getting drunk but you.
• In my bedroom, I have a sort of shrine with a Buddha statue, himalayan salt lamp, and a few plants.

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. Many people who misuse alcohol or drugs have trouble dealing with anger.

Essential Tips For Staying Sober Long-Term

Take our short alcohol quiz to learn where you fall on the drinking spectrum and if you might benefit from quitting or cutting back on alcohol. It’s important to remember how many people, upwards of 20 million in the United States alone, are in recovery and have found better, more fulfilling lives. According to research by the Recovery Research Institute, there are more than 20.5 million American adults in recovery from alcohol and drug abuse. The report revealed that about 75% of those individuals who reported having a drug or alcohol problem in their lives are now in recovery from it.

• It may help to pick a quit date, or a day when you choose to discontinue use of alcohol or drugs.
• I’ll take being a wise old herbalist over being a batshit drunk mixologist any day of the week.
• Staying busy is a great way to stave off boredom and create space for healing the parts of your brain that took a walloping from drinking.
• After all, you can’t achieve long-term sobriety if you can’t stop drinking or using drugs.
• During the day, there were all-inclusive brunches.
• Hibiscus and linden flower are useful in relieving bad moods.

If I was hanging out with friends, we were getting drunk. It’s pretty normal to reduce the entire experience of boredom in sobriety to missing alcohol and believing that getting drunk is the primary way you (and everyone else) have fun. Getting sober is like learning to walk again after a terrible accident. You should be able to go about living your life without drinking alcohol, but you feel utterly useless and have no idea what to do with yourself. While it’s important to create a routine, make sure that you still keep the activities still varied so your routine does not become monotonous. This can be just simple changes that can make your days interesting.

Easy Options to Get Started or Learn More

In active addiction addicts spend the bulk of their time obsessing over their habit, worrying about where they’re going to find their next fix, and using. Once all those are taken away addicts are left with plenty of spare time. As mentioned early spare time is usually bad for recovery but you can re-devote yourself to your hobbies to fill the void. The old saying goes ‘an idle mind is the devil’s playground’ and that’s absolutely true in sobriety. It’s hard to be bored when you’re stoned out of your head or drunk as a skunk but take those away and you’re left with a racing mind looking for any excitement.

When you decide to quit drugs or alcohol for good, you’re giving yourself a new lease on life that can be challenging, fulfilling, and even boring. So much of an addict’s life is spent thinking about, obtaining, drinking out of boredom or using drugs, but when that’s taken away when you go to inpatient treatment, you’re left with a lot of free time. If you find it difficult to make new, sober friends, try joining a support group.

Cool Ways to Kill Boredom in Recovery

In my bedroom, I have a sort of shrine with a Buddha statue, himalayan salt lamp, and a few plants. It’s peaceful and definitely enhances the overall mood of my room. Juicing is an effective way to get phytonutrients and if you can afford fresh produce, it’s definitely worth the effort. Most fruits and vegetables have benefits that go far beyond the vitamins on typical food labels. I don’t know whether it’s a placebo effect or whether juicing is a mood-enhancing panacea, but I always feel better after I drink some green juice.

• Fortunately, there are more ways than ever to connect with like-minded people who are fellow travelers on this path.
• Learn that you have choices and that you can maintain control.
• It took me some time to get comfortable enough to talk to people to discover that I genuinely enjoy talking to people.
• One of the most important things you can do is learn to do things by yourself and work on enjoying spending time with yourself.
• Some examples include physical activities such as exercise, hiking, extreme sports, and other outdoor pursuits.

Remember to care for yourself, seek supportive relationships, and consider seeking help from a therapist. Most people who make their way into recovery have left a lot of pain and suffering in their wake. Feeling guilty or ashamed of past behavior or actions during active addiction is natural and healthy.

When you have a full vision board, begin taking active steps to make these dreams come true. For example, if you want to travel abroad in the next year maybe get a second job to start saving for that trip, begin looking at flights, hotels, attractions in that area, and plan. This will not only help keep you from being bored now, but also in the future as you plan fun things to do like a trip. Once you take some time to imagine what you really want your life to look like, maybe create a vision board. For a vision board, you can use images or even words that illustrate your dreams. For example, if you want to travel to a certain area of the world, put pictures of that place on your vision board.

It literally saved his life and allowed both of us to have a life worth living. It is also a great fitness activity to keep you fit and strong. In light of our current situation and the need to lessen the deleterious effects of boredom, what can we do? Chin et al., propose that a “sense of agency” or control over one’s situation counteracts boredom. Sometimes I know I’m being weak and I just need to do a round of push-ups. It gets the blood flowing and helps me obliterate fuzzy moments.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Acknowledging and celebrating the hard work of recovery is helpful for keeping you motivated and reminding you why you took this brave step toward sobriety in the first place. Just be sure that your rewards don’t involve drugs or alcohol.

Often, it really comes down to being willing to do something that doesn’t entertain you or make you feel good immediately. In other words, it’s about suspending the need for instant gratification. The breath is the best entry point to this factory reset (rest and digest mode or the healing function of the autonomic nervous system). Additionally, you cannot just practice it when you’re panicking or when shit hits the fan and expect it to work. In order for it to achieve real results, it needs to be practiced daily. Ridgid is very cognitive and rational.