10 Coping Skills to Help You Stay Sober

How to stay sober and save your mind

You are more likely to relapse if your daily life lacks activities that keep you engaged. An addict’s life revolves around using their substance of choice. As a recovering being sober around drinkers addict, you must always find ways to stay productively engaged. Many people can trace their path to addiction to some toxic relationships they had in the past.

How to stay sober and save your mind

Relatable Inspirational Quotes for Anxiety Sufferers Like Me

  • We have compiled 15 tips on how to stay sober and live an addiction-free life.
  • Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center.
  • We’re not here to judge whether you should be living a sober lifestyle or not.
  • Whether it’s a hike or a nice park, heading into nature is a good way to watch the natural world moving and slow down your thinking.

They should have more time dealing with recovery than you do. They have helped others in recovery like yourself. When you are having negative self-talk, you need to catch what you are thinking and compare it with what you know is right. If you do not willfully set your mind on what you choose to think about, your brain will set it on something by default. This is usually on something that does not promote recovery.

  • Popular support groups include Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and SMART Recovery.
  • However, that is not necessary, provided that you’re saying them.
  • This self-awareness can help you manage your emotions effectively.
  • It can be awkward at first if it’s not already a practice.

Wellness Habit Tracker

Staying plugged in with familiar faces as you keep your workouts consistent can be comforting and a great way to support your local establishments during a tough time. At first it’s hard because you must accept that you have an addiction. You must choose to stop the addiction, by surrendering to it and the control it has over your life. But you can do it, and once you do, you will start maturing emotionally.

How to stay sober and save your mind

Start exercising.

Ask your doctor about nonmedical ways to manage your pain, like massage or acupuncture. By Buddy TBuddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website.

Establish consistent, healthy routines.

Getting and staying sober begins with this first type of acceptance. Acceptance that you may have a problem, acceptance that you may not be seeing the complete picture of your alcohol or drug use, and acceptance that you may need help. For the person with the addiction, the addiction itself often began as a way to escape reality. Many times what starts out as a way to ‘take the edge off’ becomes a necessary but inefficient way to flee from reality.

More on Substance Abuse and Addiction

The hope is that you will be ready to resume daily life after treatment, manage stressors and triggers, and stay sober for the long term. The reality is that many situations can make it hard to reintegrate into normal life without some hiccups and potential for relapse. Aftercare programs make it easier to remain in recovery and avoid returning to substance use.

  • This article discusses the meaning of sobriety and arms you with information and strategies to smooth—and stay on—your path to wellness.
  • I’ve experienced several remarkable benefits of prayer journaling in recovery.
  • Self-care isn’t just bubble baths and therapy sessions.
  • Triggers for using drugs and alcohol typically are people, places, and things that remind you of your addictive behavior or encourage the use of substances you’re avoiding.

How to stay sober and save your mind

Excessive drinking can lead to the build-up of toxic, highly cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds that contribute to inflammation in your body, especially in your liver. There are many more interventions that may be used to help you recover from substance misuse. It’s important to find a therapist you trust and “click” with, and this may not always be the first therapist you try.

Therapy and support programs can play important roles in this development of self-acceptance. This can be the most difficult first step, but, thousands have gone before you and taken this step of acceptance. Many of whom are still in recovery and living lives beyond their wildest dreams.

Final Thoughts on Living a Sober Lifestyle

To the degree that our parents or caregivers have accepted us is the degree to which we are able to accept ourselves. “While for some people these structural changes are not reversible, most people are able to show less shrinkage in one to three months with alcohol abstinence,” says Volpicelli. Heavy drinking can actually cause the https://ecosoberhouse.com/ part of the brain that’s critical to memory and learning (hippocampus), to shrink. One study found that around 70% of participants had sleep problems when they were admitted for alcohol treatment. That number dropped to 50% when the participants went home, and many reported that their sleep quality got better after treatment.

This research-based technique has been shown to support sobriety. Not everyone comes from an encouraging and supportive home environment. If your family and or friends aren’t motivating you to seek help for your substance misuse, make an appointment with a medical or addiction treatment professional.