How to Stay Sober

How to Stay Sober

In this post, we outline a number of tips for helping you remain in recovery following the successful completion of addiction treatment. Getting into recovery takes hard work and determination. However, you need to focus on your recovery goal well into the future. Now you have begun life in recovery, the hard work is only really just beginning.

The good news is that the task of remaining in recovery gets easier and easier as time goes by. Overtime, cravings to return to drink or drug use will begin to fade away as you cement your recovery efforts.

Particularly during the initial 12-months of your recovery, the possibility of relapse is very real indeed. Nobody has remained in recovery during this period without a willingness to make important sacrifices. In fact, a large number of people new to recovery will experience a relapse during this period. However, we offer you a number of tips to help you remain in recovery and thus avoid a relapse scenario.

1. Ensure you enjoy life in recovery

If you are unhappy being sober, it’s unlikely your sobriety will last. You really need to plan your life so that so that you engage in activities that make you happy. Without this solid and planned foundation, it’s unlikely your early recovery will last.

2. Focus on building relationships

If you are isolated, your recovery is unlikely to last. It’s important for you to reach out to loved ones in order to secure their support. This will really help you to secure your recovery for the long term. It’s important to seek out quality relationships, rather than their quantity. Motivate yourself to reach out to people you may not have spoken to for a number of years. Tell them about your experiences with addiction and allow them room to offer you help. If help is not freely given, then perhaps this relationship was not worth developing in the first place.

3. Improve your physical health.

This means getting more sleep, eating better foods and getting plenty of exercise. Staying healthy is known to improve your mood. Generally, when you are happy and content, you are less likely to crave drugs and alcohol. If you do not enjoy physical exercise, try yoga, tai chi or qigong.

4. Reach out to a higher power

Reaching out to a higher power is known to improve your sense of happiness. This ‘higher power’ could come in the form of religion or spirituality. Reaching out to a higher power is usually more beneficial when it is combined with meditation.

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