Sobriety Strategies: 13 Tips for Staying Sober

From writing down your thoughts and goals to seeking support from loved ones and the recovery community, we’ll cover various approaches that can help you overcome challenges and triggers. Additionally, we’ll discuss the importance of considering the long-term health effects of addiction and how to renew your motivation after a relapse. Another one of the most important ways to support recovery is to understand that multiple relapses over a number of years are typically part of the process. They are not occasion for blame or despair but for encouraging resumption of recovery.

Challenges in staying motivated during the recovery journey

• Relapse can be a natural part of the recovery journey, and the circumstances of your relapse might teach you important lessons that you need to learn to stay substance-free for the rest of your life.
• Following the SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) ensures that goals are practical and actionable.
• Often, spending time with people who do not have an SUD, makes it easier for you to push harder towards recovery.
• At any moment, someone’s aggravating behavior or our own bad luck can set us off on an emotional spiral that threatens to derail our entire day.

When your thoughts become negative, recognize that they are just thoughts, not reality. Seeing negativity in this way will help you let go of it in favor of more positive thoughts. A powerful 13-minute video for anyone who is traumatized by the addiction of a loved one. 14-minute video clip from Melissa Byers about addiction, harm reduction, and recovery. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer.

Addiction Neuroscience 101 (

Historically the treatment field has focused on the deficits and limitations of clients. Today, greater emphasis is placed on identifying, enhancing, and using clients’ strengths, abilities, and competencies. This trend parallels the principles of motivational counseling, which affirm clients, emphasize personal autonomy, support and strengthen self-efficacy, and reinforce that change is possible (see Chapter 4).

• Firstly, it helps individuals explore and resolve their ambivalence about change.
• Abstaining from substance use can be physically and psychologically painful.
• Benefits of motivational interviewing during rehab are significant in helping individuals overcome addiction.

Writing down thoughts and goals

It helps us uncover beliefs that are not helping us /contributing to the behaviour we are trying to change. Neuroscientist Adi Jaffe, Ph.D., who himself recovered from addiction, outlines five steps. Saying a mantra, substituting thoughts of recovery goals, praying, reading something recovery-related, reaching out to someone supportive—all are useful tactics. To combat these feelings, try to remove yourself from the triggering situation. If a song is playing, turn the radio off, if you get a text from an old friend with whom you used to use substances, consider blocking the number. Of course, not every trigger can be avoided but coping with your life being different can help you build a new life filled with less painful reminders from the past.

Are You Ready to Get Motivated?

• Taking care of your body by adopting healthy habits is an integral part of the recovery process.
• This clip is an excellent tool for generating discussions and is one of the best TED Talks for addiction.
• As time passes, it can be easy to forget our beginning struggles and the reasons we had for wanting to get sober.
• Psychological factors, such as the need for pleasure, stress relief, or coping with underlying emotional issues, can also contribute to the motivation for addiction.

Some of these pros could include an increased awareness of life, a healthier body, greater ambition, and a new social circle full of loving individuals who accept who you are. Finding inspiration to get and stay sober can allow individuals recovery motivation to experience a number of health, social and financial benefits. Frequent drug or alcohol abuse can result in addiction, a chronic brain disease that causes compulsive behaviors despite knowing the harmful consequences.

This motivating hope and belief can help sustain your recovery in the long-term and is critical to achieving a sober life. Prochaska and DiClemente (1984) theorized that the change process is a journey through stages in which people typically think about behavior change, initiate behavior change, and maintain new behaviors. This model emerged from https://ecosoberhouse.com/ an examination of 18 psychological and behavioral theories about how change occurs, including components that compose a biopsychosocial framework for understanding addiction. In this sense, the model is “transtheoretical” (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984). TTM is not the only SOC model, but it is the most widely researched (Connors et al., 2013).

Thinking Positive

As internal motivation has proven more effective in sustaining sobriety than external motivation like, financial incentives, according to a study conducted at University of Rochester, New York. The purpose of this article is to provide practical tips and actionable strategies to help individuals in addiction recovery stay motivated and overcome challenges. Quotes can serve as daily reminders, affirmations, and sources of strength for individuals in addiction recovery. These words of wisdom can help individuals stay focused, motivated, and determined to overcome obstacles and maintain their sobriety. Behavior change is a process that occurs over time; it is not an outcome of any one treatment episode (Miller et al., 2011). Everyone must make decisions about important life changes, such as marriage or divorce or buying a house.