Benefits of Being Sober Health Benefits of Sobriety

If you recently had surgery or an injury, your doctor will be careful with the pain medication they give you, because some of those drugs can make you more likely to relapse. Ask your doctor about nonmedical ways to manage your pain, like massage or acupuncture. This may mean that you don’t spend time with someone you used to use drugs with or go somewhere you used to drink.

Step 5: Choose the Appropriate Therapy

• Others may incorporate recovery support systems into their lives for many years.
• So, now that you are sober—stay sober so that you can continue to be a productive member of society.
• You can find healing in sobriety from the poisonous effects of drugs and alcohol on your self-esteem and your overall health.
• In addition to the potential harm that heavy alcohol use has on your physical and mental health, it can also negatively impact your relationships with family and friends.
• The life I had before I quit drinking was a lot like Groundhog Day; I was always waiting for it to begin and always reliving the same stuff, day after day, year after year.

As explained and elaborated on by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, relapse prevention is the main goal of all addiction treatment. Treatment provides you with the tools to change your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors around substance use. If you’re not ready or willing to change those behaviors and thoughts, then treatment cannot do what it’s designed to do. You must be ready to change in order to find the best treatment program for you.

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You might take a new way home from work, for example, to keep from going past your favorite old hangout. This is most easily achieved if your treatment team is managed by a single caseworker, who can track all treatments and therapies, make sure everything is compatible, and advocate for you when changes are necessary. Once you’ve admitted that you have a problem with substance misuse, getting help is the next step. Shame is having negative beliefs about yourself and your self-worth. People in recovery can experience a lot of shame simply for having become addicted in the first place. Depending on the type of dependency, PAWS can last from six months to two years after you stop using drugs or alcohol.

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I received a bottle of Vermont WhistlePig rye for my 40th birthday and a Merry Edwards Russian River Pinot as a wedding present. And I did unabashedly love to drink — Miraval rosé under the summer stars, mezcal margaritas on lazy Saturday afternoons, boozy Bloody Marys with scrambled eggs and croissants on Sunday mornings. My biggest fears in life include being in large groups of strange people, standing at parties by myself, and really just people in general.

If there’s someone in your life that you lost to addiction or that doesn’t do the right things because he or she is an addict, maybe you should stay sober just so that you are not like that person. While we don’t want to encourage pointing fingers, it is okay for you to have a goal of NOT being like someone. If so, you must stay sober so that you can be a positive role model to them. If you don’t have kids—what happens when you DO have kids one day? Stay sober so that you can remain positive and be a role model to others.

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A structured routine will help you achieve other goals in your life, whether they are short-term (like being on time for work) or long-term (like going back to school and changing careers). American Addiction Centers (AAC) is committed to delivering original, truthful, accurate, unbiased, and medically current information. We strive to create content that is clear, concise, and easy to understand.

• Matthew Perry was just one of many celebrities whose weekly whereabouts would alternately display their shiny, happy mugs and/or much less happy mugshots splashed across tabloids.
• Have some sober friends you can invite as your plus-one to a social event like a party or wedding.
• Making connections with other people during the recovery process can help define a new chapter in your life.
• Just be sure that your rewards don’t involve drugs or alcohol.
• And if you just need some motivation to get through the day, here are 14 wonderful reasons to remain sober.
• Aftercare programs make it easier to remain in recovery and avoid returning to substance use.

If you don’t know the person well, simply saying you have to get up early the next morning or you quit for health reasons should be enough. Reputable, research-based treatment programs select therapies and interventions to match your personal needs. For example, a Veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who misuses cocaine, doesn’t have the same needs as a stay-at-home mom struggling with alcohol use. Medical support can also wean you from certain substances slowly, helping the brain and body adjust to the loss of the substance more gradually and minimizing some withdrawal symptoms.

Step 7: Participate in Aftercare Programs

Drunk me didn’t have to worry if I was alone at a party because drunk me didn’t abide such things. Drunk me didn’t worry if she belonged, or said the right thing, or had to have small talk because drunk me just handled that. If people press that response, I’ll either stare at them and hold an uncomfortable silence (this is enjoyable at some point), 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.

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I drink raspberry shrub cocktails when I vacation with my girlfriends and go out for ice cream with my husband on the weekends. I’m less anxious and more present in conversations and in the world around me. Alcohol provides a surge of dopamine and when that’s taken away, you initially might feel sad, but that usually fades within a few months, Kobashigawa said.

• My biggest fears in life include being in large groups of strange people, standing at parties by myself, and really just people in general.
• Detox can occur in a hospital setting or as the first part of inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation.
• For a period it was, “I’m an alcoholic,” and that tended to silence anyone (for clarification, I no longer identify as an alcoholic).
• The best way forward for your recovery from alcohol or substance use is to incorporate a wide variety of strategies that will help foster success.
• Reach out to someone for support on Pocket Rehab through the lifeline if you are really feeling like you may relapse.
• SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Getting sober may seem difficult, but there are strategies you can use to get and maintain sobriety. Some are structured in programs, such as the 12-step approach used by Alcoholics Anonymous and similar reasons to stay sober addiction recovery programs. There are common setbacks to getting and staying sober like withdrawal, craving, and pressure to use. Relapse rates for substance use addictions are around 40% to 60%.