The reality of being addicted to drugs or alcohol is that you need help, and the only solution is permanent abstinence from the use of the substance. The very idea of never being able to drink or use drugs again can seem overwhelming, but we have a few tips for those whose only option for right living is learning to stay sober successfully.
Staying Sober for Life Starts Today
If you are struggling with the disease of addiction and alcoholism,the only real solution to your problem is a lifetime of sobriety. Yes, it sounds scary, and if you think about this being for life, you are sure to feel an overwhelming sense of anxiety about it. The more you focus on staying sober for the rest of your life, the more likely you are to not achieve the goal.
That being said, we are happy to share with you that achievement of this goal is very much possible. In fact, by doing so, you are sure to enjoy exponentially more in life than that of the pain and suffering you may be living in now. Doing so takes work, but we are excited to share with you a few tips we have seen work with others in successfully staying sober:
- Take it one day at a time: The idea that we must stay sober for the rest of our lives can be overwhelming. In fact, those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction tend to get overwhelmed at the prospect of doing anything for an extended period of time. Whether it’s a diet, building a career, or staying sober, focusing on it being a lifetime journey can make the immediate seem very difficult. When it comes to staying sober for life, one of the best pieces of advice we can offer recovering individuals is to focus solely on the present. You need not worry about 10 years from now. Really, you need not worry about 10 minutes from now. As you go about your day, simply remain present and know that you will not drink at this moment. Whenever you are at work, be at work. When at the gym, remain at the gym. Our days are simply the sum total of a number of moments, and if we remain focused on the moment, we are quick to find how much easier it is to make it through the day. When we prepare for sleep and look back at what we have done that day to stay sober, we know what we must do it again tomorrow. As we remain present day by day, soon this overwhelming task merely becomes another habit. This habit, however, ensures a life of joy ahead.
- Join a sober fellowship: Sober fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) are made up of people with the same objective as yourself, to get sober, and have found a way of living that has allowed them to lead wonderful, sober lives over an extended period of time. Their blueprint for right living is laid out in a 12-step program for recovery that has been shown to work for millions of people just like you. This includes actions and principles that when applied to all aspects of life have provided for incredible personal and professional success. We have seen in our experience that those who take skills learned in treatment and interweave it with a program of recovery have more success at staying sober. We are the sum of who we surround ourselves with, and many of those found in the rooms of these fellowships are great people, and even better influences. By surrounding ourselves with such people, we are sure to meet others that can hold us accountable and who understand our journey through recovery. We have a community of like-minded individuals at our disposal happy to support us along the winding road of this journey to a happy and healthy way of life.
- Practice gratitude through prayer and meditation: We have found that those who pursue a spiritual way of life that includes remaining focused on being grateful applied through prayer and meditation tend to be more successful at long term recovery. It is easy to get caught up in the noise as we pursue this journey by comparing ourselves to others in or out of sobriety. Social media provides us all the ammunition we need to feel badly about ourselves and where we are at relative to others. We can easily find ourselves losing gratitude for the many blessings that life has provided by offering us another chance at life. The practice of prayer and meditation has been shown to play a critical role in remaining sober, but more importantly, these practices offer a way of life filled with joy and happiness beyond anything most of us have ever experienced before.
Sober for Life, Happy for Life
Thinking of staying sober for life can be overwhelming at first, but if we change the narrative to remaining happy for life, it becomes a little bit easier to manage the day to day. In our experience, remaining focused on the moment, staying dialed-in to recovery communities, and practicing gratitude through prayer and meditation are practices that offer recovering individuals an armory of tools for staying sober and leading a life of happiness.
We have seen thousands of individuals firsthand rise from the depths of hell to begin life anew. Families torn apart have been brought closer together. Professional careers crash and burn only to be rebuilt into success that they never thought was possible. A life of sobriety is more than just not drinking or taking drugs, but it is about a new way of life that affords us a level of joy and success that could otherwise be achieved through our current way of living.
Need Help? Contact Sunlight Recovery
If you are struggling with alcoholism and need help, call Sunlight Recovery at (844) 426-0790for more information today! Our compassionate team of counselors are standing by 24/7 to take your call.
Thank you for explaining that staying sober is something that you need to take one day at a time. My brother has been wondering how to overcome his problems with alcohol. I’ll be sure to share this with him and see if I can help him through this time.