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Bring someone to a support group, have a cup of coffee and share your story, offer to mentor or sponsor a person who is hours or days into recovery. This practice helps keep you out of your head and also creates accountability for your actions. Many people in recovery report that service to others is the most important and transformational part of their journey.
When you’re struggling to stay sober, meditation can help you refocus and bring a healthy stillness to you. It stops you from fidgeting or thinking of scenarios where you’d end up drinking. Stay calm, play some relaxing ambient noise, and be still. Again, staying sober isn’t a punishment, it’s a reward.
Find New Ways to Have Fun
She’s seen as the reason he drinks and gets in trouble. That’s what a recovery friend called Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. The following is a set of strategies to help you take control and win tips to stay sober the power to resist cravings. The next stage is to discover what this behavior, pattern, or response means, where it originates, why we have felt this way, and why we might have avoided examining it.
How do you get really sober?
- Drink Coffee. Drinking a strong black coffee is sometimes suggested by helpful friends as a means of 'sobering up'.
- Take a cold shower. Standing under some cold water will shock your body into sobering up.
- Eat.
- Sleep.
- Exercise.
Put your time to good use and do something you feel passionate about. When you feel the pull of alcohol, stop and check in with what that feels like. Don’t try to fight it or curse yourself for “letting” it happen, see if you can interpret how it feels; the quality of the urge. Think of how the feeling is affecting you and try to ride it out. 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.
Spend Time With Real Friends & Family
When the holidays get busy, it’s tempting to skip meetings, counseling appointments, and outreach calls. Stay connected to recovery, even if it’s less than normal. Alcoholics Anonymous,Narcotics Anonymous,Al-Anon, and other 12-step recovery groups put extra meetings into place either in person or over the phone during the holidays. Al-Anon, for instance, offers meetings every hour on the hour over the phone on major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Supportive family and friends can help in the process and boost your confidence. Active addiction takes up a ton of time and energy. When you stop using substances you will find yourself with a lot of time to fill. This is a great time to throw yourself into a myriad of positive activities.
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However, early recovery does not have to lack fun. Taking these steps will help ensure that you can enjoy and celebrate a holiday while maintaining your recovery. For example, make a list of reasons why you will be declining invitations to parties or other activities that pose challenges to your sobriety — in a way that won’t hurt feelings .
But understandably, it may not feel like it initially. This is one of the reasons, the I Am Sober app focuses on celebrate your milestones, so you see the immediate reward as you build to longer and longer milestones. It is a big deal and you should celebrate as such. To prevent a relapse, one of the best things you can do is manage your time wisely.
Form New Habits to Stay Sober
To achieve this, you’ll learn superior and healthier coping strategies that don’t involve drink or drugs. Spend time with family and friends who will support your recovery and provide positive reinforcement. Lean on close friends and family for support, even if your relationships aren’t what they used to be. Think about going to counseling or family therapy to help with that and to deal with other personal issues.
