Getting sober is about so much more than “not using.” Many people don’t realize that an entire lifestyle often causes addiction. Whether it’s past trauma, friends and family members who use it, current coping mechanisms, or all of the above, it’s a lot. Getting clean and staying sober requires a full arsenal of strategies that will help you take it one day at a time. The good news is you can start today.
1. Experience a New Environment
Sometimes, you need to go extreme to get clean. Your current environment may be a huge contributor to why you started using it in the first place. Maybe you have friends who take drugs or drink “recreationally,” and it has become a habit. Perhaps things got really bad, and you turned to substances to self-medicate. Whatever the case, it can feel impossible to quit using when you’re still in a place that constantly reminds you to use.
In this situation, it’s often necessary to leave that environment entirely and go somewhere that will encourage sobriety. Look into an inpatient treatment for drug addiction or alcohol abuse that will shake you out of the “same old, same old.” These centers and clinics often provide a safe place to live, counseling, and healthy food to support your healing. You can take refuge there and get help figuring out a plan to return to the real world.
2. GetSupportt
Outside of an inpatient treatment center, you’ll still need all the support you can get. A major contributor to drug and alcohol abuse is feeling alone and isolated. Remember, loneliness doesn’t necessarily mean you have no one around you. It means no one around you can help and support you in your healing journey. This reality means you’ll have to reach out to find and regularly meet with a local therapist for professional support.
You also want to ensure that everyone around you supports your sobriety journey. Be upfront and honest with friends and family you spend time with; let them know that staying clean will be a lifelong process for you and that you’ll need love and understanding. Also, surround yourself with uplifting books, movies, shows, and music rather than negative and triggering music.
3. Cut Out Toxic Connections
As much as you want to fill your life with positivity to support your pathway to and through healing, you also have to make some cuts. This part of getting sober can be challenging because the people who encourage you to abuse drugs or alcohol might be close friends or family members. Some people with an addiction start using in adolescence as a response to triggers in the home. This means that returning to your parents’ house could trigger addiction again.
As difficult as it may be, you’ll have to decide to cut out the connections in your life that lead to toxic behaviors. Abuse is a slippery slope, and it can often begin with a fight between your parents, a sibling pushing your sensitive buttons, or an old friend egging you on. MDecideto not only surrounds yourself with positive, supportive people and influences but also cuts out and avoids those who urge you to use.
4. Establish a Healthy Lifestyle and Routine
Now you’re on your own, the friends and family in your life are supportive and uplifting, and you have professional help to keep you clean. It’s time to establish a lifestyle and a routine that supports your overall health. For people with an addiction, the smallest disruptions can trigger a relapse, so you’ll want to avoid an unpredictable lifestyle that keeps you guessing. Instead, find work with the same schedule and build healthy habits around it.
Getting work done during the day is also helpful in allowing you to sleep well at night. Night work and poor sleep are contributors to poor mental health outcomes. And if there’s anything that can send you back to abusing, it’s having your mental health messed with. So get a day job, incorporate exercise into your daily routine, and eat healthy foods to support your mind and body. These habits can provide a solid foundation for sobriety.
5. Connect to Something Larger Than Yourself
Finally, virtually every sobriety program will encourage a connection to something larger than yourself. If you’re religious, this “something” would be your God. It could be creative energy, the Earth, or the universe if you’re not religious. It doesn’t have to be a being or figure, per se. It’ss anything that takes you out of yourself and humbles you. The absence of this spirituality can leave people feeling lonely, which facilitates addiction.
You can start to find this connection by returning to a church you trust ifyou’ree religious. Otherwise, you can begin by picking up spiritual literature, like the works of Michael Singer. You could take a yoga class that encourages you to expand your mind. Or, you can sit quietly for 15 minutes daily and focus on your breath before doing anything else. Any of these practices are a step toward creating a peaceful, loving, sober environment.
On your road to creating a sober environment, you must break many habits. The first and most important is to realize that to get and stay sober, you must change your entire environment. Start with the biggest steps, like getting help and cutting out toxic influences, and go from there. Slowly and over time, you can build a whole new life that gently but firmly encourages you to stay clean, happy, and healthy.
