You may find yourself leaning on your trusted support system a lot and breaking ties with those who do not aid you in your recovery. If you don’t have a family or strong social circle to return to post formal treatment, a personalized plan may include interpersonal therapy, which can help you build a healthy social network. This research-based technique has been shown to support sobriety. One study from Substance Abuse showed that women struggling with alcohol misuse and depression, who participated in interpersonal therapy, were able to give up alcohol and maintain sobriety longer than those who didn’t. It may be thrillingly fun to consider, in the pop-psychological sense, that those are activities which are what I am really inclined to do all the time, but am too inhibited to do without Guinness.

Why A Consistent Morning Routine Is So Powerful In Sobriety

As explained in a study from the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, even something as simple as a motivational texting program can better your chances of avoiding relapse. For many, returning to daily life after treatment means returning home to family, which is why family can be the strongest social support system. However, relationships within the family may have been impacted by substance misuse and therefore, require mending. Part of living your truth means being awake and aware as well as being thankful for all you have rather than taking the little things for granted.

• It’s easy to look at the past and only remember the “good times.” But it’s dishonest to forget all of the bad things that came with using.
• If you were active in your addiction for a period of time, you may have developed financial problems.
• Rather, it acts against self-control is more beguiling ways, creating only lose-lose situations.
• This means catching oneself in the middle of a lie and correcting it, even if its embarrassing.

Step 3: Find the Right Treatment Program

Do you like spending time outside, traveling, being with friends, cooking, meditation, or reading? Living your truth is exceedingly personal, and no one can tell you how to exactly to do it. Pay attention to all the different areas of your life and how you would like to live each day. If just putting down the drink and drug was what recovery was all about then I’m not sure I would want it.

Step 7: Participate in Aftercare Programs

There are zero alcohol-related regrets plaguing my life right now. Friendships can be tricky things in early sobriety, especially when all of your friends are drinking buddies. It was a horrible https://ecosoberhouse.com/ cycle of self-medicating my anxiety with alcohol which, in turn, only made my anxiety levels worse. I was stressed out all of the time and had no healthy coping mechanisms for that stress.

However, research suggests that while 12-step groups are effective, people often don’t continue their involvement at beneficial levels over the long term. It’s important to remember that just because we’re highly focused on a recovery-based peer group now, doesn’t mean it has to stay that way forever. The important part isn’t to get hung up on the individual effects themselves, but rather to understand that they are only temporary.

Avoid Old Routines and Habits

A mental health professional can help you cope with some of the challenges you’ll face on your path to sobriety. Research shows that if you maintain these types of toxic relationships, your chances of relapsing are greater. To avoid relapse and remain sober, it’s important to develop healthy relationships. Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) involves experiencing withdrawal symptoms that persist past the detox period. Such symptoms are often related to mood and may include irritability, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and fatigue.

Along with these benefits, 12-Step programs and other forms of mutual-help groups can increase the likelihood of achieving and maintaining recovery from substance misuse. Research from the Department of Veterans Affairs demonstrates that people who participate in 12-Step programs tend to have better outcomes than those who don’t. For many, this reminder comes with an urgent realization that the time to start living your truth is now.

• Addiction can be a chronic disease, so treating it often isn’t as simple as not consuming that substance for a few days.
• And, not surprisingly, in the moment, that can make you feel happy, even euphoric.
• How would you like to wind down your day and settle in for the night?
• Be honest, you probably lied about how much you used and how often you used it.
• Acknowledging and celebrating the hard work of recovery is helpful for keeping you motivated and reminding you why you took this brave step toward sobriety in the first place.

I can honestly say sobriety is the best thing I have ever done for myself. It was my jumping-off point into a life I knew I had buried inside being sober sucks of me. I got out of debt, started a company that provides digital recovery, launched a podcast, and am in the middle of writing a book.

Deal With Past Mistakes

All of the morals and values I had been brought up with were thrown right out the window when I became an alcoholic/addict. It took a lot of booze and drugs to try and blot out my conscience. Take away the chemicals and I was a sober, guilt-ridden individual.