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You may find that you aren’t where you want to be in your relationships, your career, or your personal achievements. Think about all the amazing things you could be doing when you’re spending time in a bar, getting high, or drinking at home. In difficult times, it’s helpful to be reminded of all the good things that came as a result of getting sober. Do you have questions about mental illness, mental health treatments or resources to get help in your community? Simply click the button below to contact a Resource Specialist. You are completely right when saying you have to want to be sober for yourself.
Some experts have even connected doing outdoor activities to elevated mood and improvement in symptoms of emotional disorders. According to living a sober life a study of 49 veterans, cortisol levels are higher after gardening, leading to reduced depressive symptoms and certain biomarkers of PTSD .
Benefits of being sober curious
Early sobriety can be a difficult time, but exploring new hobbies or re-kindling old ones can help you refocus and spend your newly found free time wisely. In difficult times like this, it’s helpful to be reminded of all the good things that came as a result of getting sober.
Unfortunately, the neuropathways in our brains, which have been so deeply etched over such a long period of time, become a sort of default. Seven years ago I made a decision that would entirely change the course of my life.
Hidden Benefits of Living a Sober Life
For a period it was, “I’m an alcoholic,” and that tended to silence anyone . These days, unless I’m feeling generous, I simply say, “I don’t drink,” and leave it at that.
Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Verywell Mind’s content is for informational and educational purposes only. We wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
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There’s no more not caring if they see your cellulite or whatever you’re hiding under there; and you will, once and for all, discover that sex is never like in the movies. It is an awkward, vulnerable dance between two awkward, vulnerable humans. If people press that response, I’ll either stare at them and hold an uncomfortable https://ecosoberhouse.com/ silence , or just change the subject. There are exceptions to this, like if someone alludes to their own struggle with alcohol, and then I might offer up a bit more of my personal experience. You are a mirror now, a flashlight of sobriety in a society that is laced with the judgment that it’s abnormal to abstain from alcohol.
- Our program offers the highest quality care for women struggling with addiction and co-occurring conditions in Southern California.
- Hanging out with friends who drink alcohol in large quantities can increase the likelihood that you will feel pressured to drink as well.
- Milestones in sobriety are celebrated to recognize the challenging work you are accomplishing.
- In these moments, I have to remind myself that recovery isn’t just about not drinking; it’s about remembering that I am first and foremost responsible for advocating for my own well-being and boundaries.
You’ll have more clarity, focus, drive – and you’ll slowly start to build your relationships back up to go on living as a productive member of society. In addition to living a better, more fulfilling life, sobriety can also extend your years due to increased health and wellness. Sometimes being in recovery is just hard and there’s no getting around that. At times, you have to face difficult realities and truths about yourself that can be pretty painful. However, facing these things head-on also greatly increases your self-awareness. As a result, you develop a better understanding of the world around you, how it impacts you personally, and what actions you can take to stay sober for the long-haul. Living a sober life after going through addiction gives you a new perspective on life.
Mindfulness and Mediation
Yes, the physical dependence to opioids still remains, but that is a vast improvement over addiction, is not life-threatening, and it can easily be managed medically. It’s also important to note that the physical dependence pre-existed the buprenorphine treatment and was not caused by it.
- Abstaining from drinking may be trendy for some, but for the one in eight Americans who have alcoholism, it can mean life or death.
- Whenever you suffer from addiction, you’re willing to spend every last penny that you have on alcohol or drugs.
- You’ll also be able to take pride each day in the fact that you’re making the best choices for your life and your health.
- With that in mind, here are some suggestions for how to successfully live a sober lifestyle.
- If the question comes from someone you know well, you may want to say that drugs or alcohol became a problem for you, so you’re staying away from them.
I think that most people like you, try to sugar-coat your new and depressing lives, so you can try and convince yourself it’s better. I really don’t buy it, but if you’re really, genuinely a happier person without drugs, then by all means, I wish you the best! Just don’t try to convince people that the pain/boredom will pass, because it almost never does. It’s not hard to see why people get more done when they’re sober. When you’ve got high energy levels and lots of free time, it’s easier to stay focused on work, school, and personal projects. It’s much easier to stay financially fit when you’re sober.
It can be an opportunity to discuss your struggles and the steps you can take to overcome them. You may need to repair relationships damaged by alcohol or opioid dependency. This takes time and is not always easy, but the time you spend repairing your relationships provides a solid foundation for your future. In the world of addiction, sobriety also means finding peace with yourself and developing the skills and discipline needed to maintain your sobriety. Long-term recovery from addiction depends on sobriety and your ability to identify and overcome the factors that initially led to your addiction. It’s about finding the motivation to move forward in life while maintaining a sober state of being.
Please do not ignore information from your doctor because of something you saw on the Coastal Detox website. If you have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. Whether you volunteer at a soup kitchen or hold the door for someone in the grocery store, helping others is one of the best ways to enjoy living sober.
An experienced counselor/therapist will be able to teach other techniques that will further help undo some of the brain changes and conditioned learning that occurred while becoming and once addicted. Physical connections create pathways in the brain that can be altered when we learn something new. These changes to the brain can be seen with medical imagery.