There are infinite reasons why pursuing long-term recovery and sobriety can be the best choice for someone struggling with drug or alcohol use. Pursuing a life of sobriety should be celebrated, and each person will have their reasons for committing to a drug and alcohol-free life. Without the influence of substances, you have the opportunity to enjoy sober relationships while ending toxic relationships. You can form authentic relationships built on mutual respect, interests, and understanding rather than just who is willing or available to drink or use drugs with you. Life after addiction might also mean you have more professional success and new creative outlets that you discover when drugs and alcohol aren’t occupying all of your time. It’s easy to down a lot of empty calories with just a few drinks.

• John C. Umhau, MD, MPH, CPE is board-certified in addiction medicine and preventative medicine.
• Celebrating someone’s sobriety can take many forms, depending on the relationship with the individual and where they are in their recovery journey.
• Although these new activities are healthy and productive, they can be a stumbling block to lasting recovery if they become a transfer addiction to fill the void left by the original addiction.
• By maintaining your sobriety, you can demonstrate your commitment to change and work towards restoring relationships that may have been strained or broken.

Common setbacks to getting and staying sober include withdrawal, craving, and pressure to use substances. Relapse rates for substance use addictions are around 40% to 60%. Setbacks don’t erase progress; they don’t mean you’ve “failed” to stay sober. If these emotions become excessive, they can hold you back from recovery. If you are trying to maintain a sober lifestyle, those feelings can become toxic and contribute to relapse if you don’t deal with them properly.

Improve at Work and in School

Sober living is so much more peaceful than living a life of binging and regretting the use of drugs or alcohol the night before. If you can’t remember, again, ask someone you love to remind you how horrible life was when you https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/what-reasons-for-you-to-stay-sober/ were NOT sober. Is your freedom what keeps you walking the sobriety line? If so, think about it the next time you consider using drugs or alcohol. Not using drugs or alcohol is almost like a “stay out of jail free” card.

Picture your past self standing before you, then take your love and compassion and hold it in a ball of light in front of you. In your imagination, give the ball to your past self and watch as your love surrounds and eventually engulfs them. This is exercise is a little out there, but it has proven to be beneficial for staying sober. You can also dedicate your time to online communities. Blog your progress or post in sober-friendly discussion forums (or reddit).

Your diet improves.

Because of drug-related physical and mental health problems, addicts can be rendered unable to work, relying on welfare to survive. For many people with a substance use disorder, it’s simply a matter of never having learned https://ecosoberhouse.com/ the appropriate way to manage anger. Talk to your therapist, other healthcare provider, or sponsor about how to deal with your anger in ways that won’t cause you to harm yourself or others or turn to alcohol or drugs.

• Feelings of failure and shame can act as triggers for substance use.
• Working with professionals in outpatient care and continued therapy can help challenge feelings of shame and add new strategies for healthy sobriety.
• Sometimes, it can be difficult to feel connected when also feeling overwhelmed.
• It’s important to remember that you’re going to be craving alcohol to reward the short-term part of your brain, not the long term.

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. Getting sober is a sprint, staying sober is like running a marathon without a finish line. On the plus side, you have people cheering you on and giving you support at various checkpoints. On the negative side, you will have long stretches of isolation, sweating bullets, seeing spots, and feeling like your legs are going to give out as you hit the runner’s wall. This is when sobriety requires effort, discipline and endurance or you will suffer a relapse. One nasty thing about substance addiction is the need to consume higher doses in order to achieve the desired and stronger psychoactive effects.

There’s Life Beyond Addiction

So whether you’re a skeptic, a believer, a data-driven engineer or artistic painter, a few of these tips should apply. Tattoos are always a personal choice, and no single tattoo is universal for those living their best sober lifestyle. Being sober empowers you to take control of your relationships, physical and mental health, and ambitions. Recovery is a journey; staying committed is paramount for effective relapse prevention and a healthy, sober life. Despite any doubts or reservations, sobriety has many benefits for your physical and mental health. Even those successfully living a sober life and overcoming drug or alcohol dependence can still be met with new struggles.

These negative emotions can impair relationships and increase the desire to numb emotional pain through alcohol, furthering the cyclical effect of mental health issues and alcohol. Grief and substance abuse can form a painful cycle of depression and addiction that requires professional treatment to resolve. Tattoos that directly depict drugs or alcohol should generally be avoided as they can trigger past feelings.

Remember to set achievable goals that can help you build confidence in your ability to overcome your addiction. Feelings of failure and shame can act as triggers for substance use. For some, setting small goals can help keep an individual progressing by allowing them to feel the weight of each step. The three pillars of sobriety include education, support, and treatment. Finding ways to take care of yourself is essential, but it might not be something you’re used to doing every day. Each individual will have their journey with addiction and sobriety, but typically, the first six months of sobriety are considered the most difficult.