8 tips to help you overcome the fear of being sober
Anything you can do to improve your overall health and wellness will serve double duty and improve your ability to stay sober. You can always improve how you fare in sobriety by looking at where you can improve your quality of life. If you are hungry, even if that is not your main issue, get something healthy to eat. If https://ecosoberhouse.com/ you are feeling exhausted, refresh with a quick walk outside or a coffee nap if you can. The good news is that you have choices. You are not a slave to your emotions or your addiction.
- Anything you can do to improve your overall health and wellness will serve double duty and improve your ability to stay sober.
- Strengthening your coping strategies and possibly adjusting your recovery plan can help prevent future setbacks.
- It’s on the label of the soap in your parents’ guest bathroom.
- Most importantly, maintain a compassionate attitude toward yourself and recognize that recovery is a journey with ups and downs.
- You still have your “shit” to deal with and maybe that never ends, because well, life.
Prepare responses in advance to ease social pressure
Your problems come rushing to the surface and you become the person who emotionally unloads on acquaintances or work friends. This person has no idea how inappropriate it is. Sobriety has been one of the most humbling and illuminating experiences of my life. The process, however, isn’t always comfortable. I wrote about some of my difficulties in sobriety last year, in a post called The Worst Parts of Sobriety. I was inspired to revisit the topic after reading a recent post by Heather Lowe, called Sober is Boring and I Have Lost Friends.
- Yes, meditation and mindfulness can be beneficial in managing the fear of being sober.
- Or the newcomer has unrealistic expectations and judges others unfairly.
- For some reason, there’s a huge backlash now against 12-step programs and how they’re all culty and shamey and ineffective.
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- I was chasing the feeling that I got after a glass of wine, and I found myself regularly day-dreaming about drinking again.
- Since then, here’s the weird shit I’ve learned.
- They made food better, so I ate more.
- I would go on walks a few times a week because getting high and walking is super fun.
Practice and plan your responses so that you feel confident and prepared in these environments. Just because it “seems” like things will never change, that is not actually the case. The nature of life is change, being sober sucks no matter what.
Recovery isn’t just for the alcoholic
- This might include providing strategies to manage fears related to sobriety and sensitively addressing underlying issues.
- Because sobriety is not always easy, and even if it’s improved most parts of my life, it’s also damaged a few.
- When you stop problem-drinking, you suddenly get a third-ish of your day back.
- Family therapy sessions can also be beneficial, helping to improve communication and resolve any underlying issues that may impact your sobriety.
- Many newcomers wonder how long-time members can make these claims when sober members are still acting out.
Being drunk makes you less able to control who you spend time with and what those people get to do to your boundaries. Sometimes they’re out-and-out creeps who target incoherent women, but a lot of the time, it’s in more of a gray area. It’s fucking terrifying to suddenly become conscious in the middle of sex, especially if Blackout-You has a very laissez-faire policy about condoms. What the fuck do you do with that information? You seemed like a regular person to them.
Recently, I was asked this question in group therapy (the exact words have been edited as they were not fit to print). The person who posed the question felt she had been misled. She believed that, even after decades of recovery, some people were “still messed up and acting out their issues.”
Techniques such as meditation, yoga, and deep-breathing exercises can help you manage stress and the anxiety that may come with sobriety. These practices encourage focusing on the present moment, which helps alleviate worries about the future. While removing substances from your routine can seem challenging, taking it step by step may help you regain control and even feel empowered. As with most problems, the solution is as difficult or as simple as we make it. Sometimes you must put your needs first. Sometimes, consider how your Sober living house behavior has affected others.