Living a sober lifestyle can be hard, even when life isn’t throwing everything at you. But when you’re dealing with stress in your life, it can be hard to avoid the temptation.
It is in these stressful times that addiction can take hold. Often, these addictions can feel as though they are unbreakable and too big to deal with. They can affect your personal life and your career in many ways.
With hard work, the right support, and coping strategies in place, it is possible to enjoy sobriety.
In this article, we’ll discuss sober practices. We’ll also look at the benefits of sober practice and how you can implement these in your life.
Practice Self-Care to Stay Sober
There are several different ways that you can take care of yourself when you’re recovering from drug or alcohol addiction. It is essential to understand that you are kind to yourself and that you allow yourself to practice self-care.
On a fundamental level, you should ensure that you’re eating a healthy and balanced diet. Try and stick to regular mealtimes. You must also make sure that you’re getting plenty of sleep. Try and aim for seven to eight hours each night.
Take exercise whenever possible. Even a short walk will be enough to help your blood circulate and for your hormone levels to change for the better.
Take the time to develop a meditation routine. Find a few minutes each day to sit or lay down in silence and practice deep breathing. This will help you to develop focus.
Build a Support Network
Very often, problems with addiction arise when you don’t feel able to express your emotions. Find a friend or group of friends that you feel comfortable speaking to.
Build up that network of support and make sure that you use it when you need it. There may be times when you feel as though your addiction is going to get the better of you. Having someone to talk to at these times is vital for your recovery.
Avoid Situations that May Trigger You
If you’re aware that your sobriety is likely to be challenged by certain situations, do everything you can to avoid them in order to stay sober. This might be avoiding spending time with certain friends, going to specific places, or by looking to minimize your exposure to stressful situations.
Talk to those that you’re close to and explain when you are avoiding these situations.
Join a Program of Recovery
One of the biggest steps that you can take when trying to manage an addiction is to join a program of recovery.
There are peer-led 12-step groups that you can join, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, or you may choose to enter a program of rehabilitation to help you stay sober.
You can try different groups and processes to find the route that best suits your needs. Remember though that it will take time to break your addiction and you’ll need continued support from your recovery program.
Find Activities that Make You Feel Good
When removing alcohol and drugs from your life, you may find that you suddenly have a lot of time on your hands and you’re not sure what to do with it. This spare time can leave you feeling restless or bored.
It is at this point that you should try and find activities to fill your time. Think about what you would really enjoy doing. Take up a new hobby, or try and ignite your passion for an old one.
Having a new interest and passion will be very helpful in keeping your mind off your addiction. You’ll have something to focus your energy on, and it’ll give you something to look forward to.
Manage Your Urges
There will be times when you have urges to drink or take drugs. These are unavoidable, and they may be stronger and more frequent toward the start of your recovery journey. The way that you manage these urges is important though.
When you find that you have the urge to drink, stop what you’re doing, and do something else. To break the craving, you’ll need to change the situation that you’re in.
Urges may only last for 15 minutes, but what you do to distract yourself from those urges during this time will be critical.
Learn to Manage Your Stress
One of your biggest triggers will be stress. Managing your stress is important. You may want to think about signing up for a stress management course so that you can develop the skills to manage your stress.
There are many ways that you can lower your stress levels. Taking good care of yourself by eating well and drinking plenty of water will help. Get exercise, but also find some time to wind down away from distractions.
Getting plenty of sleep will also help you to lower your stress levels. Try and get a good night’s sleep consistently every night.
Create a Recovery Toolkit
There are plenty of other tools that you can use in your recovery. Journaling or creating lists of things that you feel grateful for might be useful. Some people may find getting one-to-one therapy is going to help.
It is essential that you try as many helpful ways to cure your addiction as possible. Try to discover which of the tools of recovery works best for you and include these in your own personal recovery toolkit.
Ensure You Have a Sober Lifestyle For Work
Living a sober lifestyle is essential in safety-sensitive roles such as that of a driver. If you’ve failed a DOT drug or alcohol test, then you’ll receive a SAP evaluation. You’ll need this assessment to be carried out before you’re allowed back out on the roads again.
To find a SAP center near you, get in touch with the Diversion Center to get your SAP evaluation carried out as quickly as possible.
