How to Stay Sober?

Treatment and rehabilitation are major steps to recovery. However, lasting recovery and staying sober are ongoing processes. Recovery and sobriety are hard-earned, and to make them last, requires continual effort. They need to be a priority in everyday life in that they need to be incorporated into one’s routine. So, in this blog, we shall focus on the road to long-term recovery and practical tips for staying sober.

Build a Strong Support Network

During treatment, especially therapy, one of the main goals is to build a strong support network. This requires identifying those near and dear ones who enable recovery, and provide encouragement and the motivation for one to stay sober. Engaging in informal peer groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is also very crucial as these are safe spaces where one can find people who have been through something similar and learn from them. It is also a place to gain support as well.

Moreover, building a strong support network simply does not mean increasing connections. It also means letting go of toxic relationships. While these relationships include those who engage in substance use or provide substances, they also include toxic relationships that enable substance use even without the person knowing it. For instance, an abusive relationship or a co-dependent relationship might make one resort to substance use.

Identify and Avoid Triggers

Triggers are those people, events, circumstances, or places that might induce cravings for a substance. Perhaps, a place where one has pleasant memories associated with substance use or stressful events. Identifying and avoiding these triggers play a major role in preventing relapse. While triggers may vary from person to person, it will be helpful some common triggers are as follows:

• Stressful events

• Emotional distress

• Relationship problems

• Social network of people who engage in substance use

• Spaces associated with substance use

Identifying these triggers and coming up with a plan to avoid them will go a long way in preventing relapse. In fact, it is one of the major parts of therapy. So, while in recovery, the point is to use the skills and coping mechanisms learned to avoid and cope with these triggers.

Stay Out of Risky Situations

Risky situations are similar to triggers, they induce cravings and increase the risk of a relapse. So, to achieve long-term recovery and sobriety, one will do well by staying out of these risky situations. These usually involve not visiting the same places that are associated with substance use and avoiding people in the same social circles who still engage in substance use.

Getting sober is difficult and the path of recovery is fraught with temptations. Therefore, staying sober requires understanding what these risky situations are in one’s life and staying away from them.

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Create a Structured Daily Routine

Recovery and staying sober are high-priority factors in life. They can never be done with or forgotten. They need to be incorporated into one’s daily routine. This can be done by creating a structured routine. Having a disorganized lifestyle can lead to chaos and increase the chances of relapse, and this is quite a common thing before treatment and rehabilitation. However, once sober, to make it last, develop a structured daily routine as well as a weekly schedule and follow it to the tee.

A structured daily routine will involve setting short-term and long-term goals. It will also involve incorporating those activities in daily life that will help in staying sober. For instance, making time for regular AA or NA meetings.

Set Achievable Goals

A structured daily routine is important as it helps make recovery and a sober life the main priorities. However, it is also important to set achievable goals to get there. These achievable goals are known as S.M.A.R.T. goals, which stand for:

S stands for specific. It means setting a clear goal instead of an abstract one. For instance, instead of setting a goal of going to bed early at night, being specific makes a goal more achievable. So, something like going to bed by 10 PM is more specific.

M stands for measurable. It means being able to track the progress of a goal – whether one is closer to achieving it, achieved it, or still has work to do. For instance, if the goal is to practice mindfulness for 30 minutes daily, tracking progress will involve how long one is able to practice it daily without any distractions.

A stands for attainable. This means that the goal needs to be reasonable. As recovery and staying sober involve healthy living, at the same time, it is not possible to start engaging in exercise every hour immediately. So, starting slow, from 15 minutes every day is considered to be something more attainable and reasonable.

R stands for relevant. If recovery and sober living are the goals, then healthy living is something relevant to the same.

T stands for time-bound. All goals need a timeline or a deadline. So, if one hour of exercise is the goal in mind, then while starting off with 15 minutes is something attainable, a deadline must also be set for when one might achieve their real goal in mind. So, say, one hour of exercise by the end of 45 days is a deadline one might want to set to incorporate one hour of exercise into their daily routine.

Develop Healthy Coping Mechanisms

Coping mechanisms are how one copes with the different kinds of stresses or difficult circumstances in life. Sometimes, the coping mechanisms can be unhealthy, like substance use. Many people use substances to numb the suffering and pain in their lives, leading to other unhealthy behaviors.

During therapy, unhealthy coping mechanisms are identified and replaced with healthy ones. Staying sober involves relying on these healthy coping mechanisms to deal with triggers, stressful events, and other kinds of difficult conditions. Examples involve connecting with others, keeping busy, having a healthy diet, leading a healthy life, practicing mindfulness, and so on.

Practice Self-Care

Self-care is one of the aspects of life grossly neglected during periods of substance use, as substance use takes over everything else in life. However, in recovery and maintaining long-term sobriety, practicing self-care is something very important.

This involves eating nutritious meals, regular exercise, sleeping for 8 – 10 hours daily, practicing relaxation techniques like meditation, mindfulness, and so on, and partaking in recreational activities.

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Engage in Therapy and Counseling

Recovery and staying sober require ongoing therapy and counseling. This can involve attending regular therapy or counseling sessions with one’s therapist or even availing ongoing therapy and counseling via telehealth services. This helps stay focused on recovery and prevents relapse in the long term.

Stay Mindful of Relapse Warning Signs

While sobriety is the goal, relapse is a possibility. In fact, relapse rates can run as high as 90% during one’s lifetime. Therefore, it is crucial to stay mindful of relapse warning signs.

Some common relapse warning signs are:

• Withdrawal symptoms

• Changes in the mindset, like thinking counseling or recovery programs are not really that important

• Increased stress levels

• Behavioral changes, like moving away from the daily routine or engaging in other kinds of self-defeating behaviors

• Changes in control, like losing control and making irrational decisions

• Social withdrawal and losing healthy social connections

Build New, Sober Relationships

Building new and sober relationships becomes difficult during recovery, however, they are essential for lasting sobriety. They are a source of motivation and engagement, and even in providing distraction when one needs it. Building new and sober relationships requires time and planning. It is possible to lose even the closest of relationships during substance use.

Getting back in touch with family and friends, and planning activities with them is a good start. Engaging in 12-step recovery programs where one can find support and encouragement is also a very good way to build new and sober relationships in life.

Avoid Old Routines

Quitting substance use and continuing with old routines is not conducive to sobriety and abstinence. They increase the risk of relapse, as they lead to the same behaviors that might lead to substance use.

Some of the old routines one might have to avoid immediately are avoiding the same people or hangouts associated with substance use. So, it involves taking a different route to school, work, or any other activity one might engage in.

Stay Committed to Your Recovery Plan

Recovery involves planning, which comes with treatment and rehabilitation. However, long-term recovery and staying sober require staying committed to the recovery plan.

Staying committed to the recovery plan involves reinforcing healthy behaviors. For instance, rewarding oneself for every step taken in the right direction. It involves celebrating milestones. For instance, in 12-step recovery programs, it is common to receive coins for maintaining sobriety as one moves toward the one-year mark of maintaining sobriety.

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Learn to Manage Stress

Managing stress is one of the main ways to maintain long-term sobriety. Many people engage in substance use to numb the suffering and pain that comes with stress. Hence, coping with stress in healthy ways is important for staying sober.

Stresses are common in life, but when these things do appear in life, it is essential to have a strong and sober support system on which one can rely. At the same time, leading a healthy life and engaging in strategies like meditation, mindfulness, and yoga also help in dealing with stress in positive ways.