Once you stop using addictive substances or drinking, you need to make changes in your life to stay sober. Relapse can seem like the last thing that can happen to you at first. However, it is very common among individuals that are starting their recovery journey. Getting sober after using an addictive substance for years is particularly not easy. Starting a healthy and sober life can even be more difficult.
At first, you have to deal with withdrawal symptoms. You also have to conquer cravings that follow once you quit drugs or alcohol. Resuming a normal life without drugs or alcohol after being in addiction for years is not easy. It’s a transition process that requires several changes, steps, and resolutions to pull off.
Undergoing treatment in a rehab center can help if you have difficulties abusing drugs or trying to stop drinking (AddictionResource suggests more info). In addition to getting help with detoxification, you will be guided on how to live without addiction by professionals in a Phoenix rehab center. Nevertheless, you will still have difficulties starting and maintaining a healthy, sober life. But, this doesn’t mean a healthy and sober life is impossible to achieve for people with a substance abuse problem. Here are ways you can start and lead a healthy, sober life.
1. Live in a Sober House
Staying in a sober house is one of the best ways of ensuring long-term sobriety. Sober living provides a stable, safe, and supportive environment for individuals that are starting a healthy and sober life. It entails sharing your living space with other individuals in recovery. This provides peer support that keeps recovering addicts committed to staying sober.
When staying in a sober house, you establish new and healthy friendships. These make you feel empowered to lead a healthy, sober life. You also learn that it’s possible to have fun after quitting alcohol or using illicit drugs. What’s more, being in a sober house makes you accountable. The house manager monitors you and housemates will help you sustain sobriety. You’re kept in check by house guidelines, drug tests, chores, and other safeguards meant to promote sobriety.
2. Enroll for a Recovery Program
Another way to start a healthy and sober life is to attend 12 step meetings. 12-step-based programs give members a chance to share their strengths, experiences, and hope. This enables the members to stay sober and embrace healthy lifestyles. Nobody can teach you the best ways to stay sober than individuals that have done it.
Members of a recovery program meet every day at different times. This enables the program to accommodate everybody in the recovery journey that wants to join. What’s more, recovery programs promote social events like picnics, dances, holiday gatherings, and conventions. Attending 12-step meetings gives individuals a chance to meet and interact with people they can relate to and establish positive relationships with.
3. Get Sponsorship and Work towards Full Recovery
To truly start a healthy and sober life, you have to do things differently. Some of the things you may have to do may seem uncomfortable and weird at first. They include getting sponsorship and going through the 12 steps of your preferred program.
A sponsor, in this case, is a recovering individual that volunteers their effort and time to assist you in staying sober and healthy. This person will walk with you through the 12 steps of recovery. If you don’t know how to stop drinking, 12 steps present a proven recovery program for alcohol and drug addicts. This program has worked for many people with addiction issues across the world.
These steps teach individuals to lead sober and healthy lives. They equip people with the tools required to face life challenges without using drugs or drinking as a way of coping. By following these steps, you address past issues, clean up what led you to addiction, and repair your broken relationships.
The 12 steps recovery program has saved many people from destruction and deaths. It has also brought individuals a sense of self-acceptance, peace, and freedom.
4. Make and Depend on Sober Friends
To learn to lead a healthy and sober life, you need to surround yourself with sober people. This is particularly important during early recovery. If you keep hanging out with your old friends, you will be triggered to use drugs or drink alcohol if they are still addicts. Therefore, to lead a healthy and sober life, keep sober friends. You should even stop attending concerts, parties, and events where people use drugs or drink if you wish to stop alcoholic drinks’ consumption.
Identifying and befriending people that have led healthy and sober lives for years can help especially during tough times. You can learn from such people and enjoy their company. Find out how they manage to lead healthy and sober lives. You will find the experiences of such people invaluable. You can also hang out with the friends you make in the sober house because you have a common goal of starting and maintaining a sober, healthy life.
5. Avoid Drugs and Alcohol at All Cost
You won’t get drunk if you don’t drink. You won’t get high if you don’t ingest drugs. Sobriety may seem that simple. But, if it was this simple, people wouldn’t struggle with addictions. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome, for instance, occurs when a person stops drinking after developing a physical dependence on it. The symptoms of this condition are a major reason why people have difficulties trying to quit and lead a healthy, sober life.
If you manage to detox from drugs and go through treatment successfully, avoid using drugs or drinking alcohol at all costs. Use the advice from counselors, peers, sponsors, and friends. Anytime you feel like using drugs or drinking alcohol, call a person you trust to help you deal with the craving. If you want to start a healthy life without drugs, you need to stay sober no matter what. And you won’t learn to start a healthy and sober life if you can’t live without addictive substances.
Many people have difficulties trying to start a healthy and sober life. However, leading a healthy, sober life is possible. You just need to know how to quit drinking or using illicit drugs and commit yourself to lead a sober, healthy life.