Several people each year deal with addiction to substances. Whether you’re dealing with alcohol or hard drugs, it pays to focus on the steps that will help you get sober and stay sober.
Focusing on healthy living will allow you to not only improve your life but also stay clean and sober. So, what are some steps that you can keep in mind? We’re glad to explain.
Consider the following sober tips to inform you on this lifelong journey.
Prioritize Your Mental Health During Your Recovery
Paying attention to your mental health is essential when you’re trying to figure out how to stay sober. Your thoughts create the world that you live in, so it’s of the utmost importance that you give your mind a clean bill of health.
Find a counselor or therapist you can speak to once per week, whether you’re doing great or going through struggles that week. These sessions will help you to understand your thought processes and work through mental blocks that might be keeping you stuck.
Therapy is particularly important since people often begin using due to childhood traumas that haven’t been resolved. You might have been addicted since your teenage years and have lots of emotional baggage to unpack.
Having someone professionally trained to speak with will help you build a new mind for your new self.
Hang Around People That are on the Same Page as You
The main way to stay sober is by switching up your entire lifestyle. When you were addicted to substances, you probably also hung around people that used.
Now that you’re sober, you need to avoid spending time with people that are still actively using and seeking drugs and alcohol. In many situations, we’re all the product of the people that we spend the most time with.
If your new friend circle is focused on health and wellness, that’s what you’ll be focused on as well. Choosing a new friend circle is something that you’ll have to deliberately do because many people feel guilty deprioritizing their old friends post-rehab.
While you don’t necessarily need to cut people off, make sure that everyone you spend time with the most is on the same page.
Start Working Out Five to Six Days Per Week
Exercise is the best whenever you’re exploring healthy living ideas. In fact, it’s much easier to stay sober after rehab when you put energy into staying fit.
Rather than tiptoeing into the fitness lifestyle, go all-in by working out five to six days per week. This will build a strong and consistent way of life that involves exerting yourself and getting your body into the best condition possible.
Find a gym in your area that has all of the equipment that you need or build a gym in your house. Mix up your workout plan to include strength conditioning, cardio, stretching, and so much more.
Your body will begin to get used to exercise and crave it, rather than the substances that you were formerly addicted to. Exercise even provides a “high” of sorts, since it pumps feel-good endorphins that uplift your spirits and help you to think positively.
Working out regularly will boost your testosterone levels, which can also help with your willpower, determination, and drive. Replace unhealthy habits with healthy ones and it becomes easier to set these aspects of your life on autopilot, while also getting positive results.
Attend Meetings and Sessions to Stay Clean
Going to regular sobriety meetings will guide you when you’re trying to learn how to commit to healthy living.
With organizations like Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), you shouldn’t have a problem staying locked in with like-minded people as you work through the steps of recovery. Don’t make the mistake of treating these meetings as if they are optional.
Recovery is an active process, and your initial detox is just the first step of the process. Joining these groups allow you a place to vent, learn from the experience of others who have been on the road to recovery much longer, and act as inspiration for others who are just getting started.
What you will come to realize is that no man is an island and that nothing happens in a vacuum. People rely on each other, and the relationships that you build in these group sessions will likely become some of the closest people to you.
Change the Way That You Eat
Nutrition is an aspect of health that many people let go by the wayside. It’s often easier to work out and undergo self-care than it is to make more sensible food decisions.
However, the way that you eat shapes the way that you live, so changing your diet is arguably the most important step of the process. When you eat healthy foods that are nutrient-dense, it becomes easier for you to think clearly, and you will be much less bogged down by stress.
In fact, this aspect of health is first in line with the helpful acronym of HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) that recovering addicts are taught to consider when they’re feeling moment of weakness and stress.
Taking care of your hunger handles your biological needs, which means you’re less likely to deal with triggers and relapses.
Find out how many calories you need to eat to be at a healthy weight, and hit the mark each day, while also getting the right amount of macronutrients and micronutrients.
Make drinking juices and smoothies a regular part of your routine. By including things like wheatgrass and spinach, you’re helping your body’s natural detoxification process, which is essential for someone trying to stay clean.
Stock up on plenty of fruits and vegetables and other healthy meals that will help you stay energized, at your best, and at a healthy weight.
Be Sure That You’re Getting Lots of Sleep
It’s also easy to deal with triggers and relapses if you’re robbing yourself the amount of sleep that you need each night. Failing to get sleep will have you walking around cranky and with weaker mental faculties.
By instead making sure that you get 7 to 8 hours of sleep nightly, you’ll be better able to stay focused and lucid as you go about your everyday life. This leads to better decision-making and the ability to think clearly.
Getting quality sleep rejuvenates you so that you feel like your normal self and have an easier time exerting willpower.
Continuously Find New Ways to Eliminate Stress
Eliminating stress is also a big piece of the puzzle when you’re a recovering addict. All it takes is a stress-inducing event to cause you to turn to substances.
Figure out what major parts of your life are unnecessarily taxing to you and cut them out relentlessly. Think of this as an act of self-love and take the time to replace them with things that make you feel at ease and good about yourself.
Spending more time outdoors and in nature is a great way to eliminate stress. Human beings weren’t meant to spend hours at a time couped indoors and in offices with air conditioning and fluorescent lights.
Allowing the sun to shine on your skin and breathing fresh air will allow you to relax and let stress melt away.
Likewise, consider adding a meditation practice to your life. When you are meditating on a regular basis, you reduce the cortisol levels in your body and will train yourself to breathe fully and consciously.
If stress becomes a nonfactor in your life, it becomes easier to put the substances down and deal with life’s perils in a more healthy and effective manner. In addition to meditation, journaling and doing yoga are other meditative practices that can help you to accomplish much of the same.
The sooner you turn these sorts of practices into a habit, the sooner you will live an overall stress-free existence.
Begin Focusing on Healthy Living as You Recover
Focusing on healthy living will help you out when you’re trying to recover and stay on track with sobriety. Getting past a drug or alcohol addiction will quite possibly be the hardest thing that you ever do. However, it’s also the most rewarding.
Consider these points and make sure to reach out to professionals that can help you further.
You can rely on Cenikor as a place for change when you’re ready to get sober and move forward with your life. Take some time to contact us via our site or call us at (888) 236-4567.
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