When you’re sober, you’re able to stick to a healthy sleep schedule and wake up feeling refreshed every day. When you choose to become sober, you might worry that your life is going to become boring. Am I ever going to be able to have fun again without drinking or using substances? Well, we are here to tell you that the benefits of sobriety far outweigh the downfalls. In fact, living a sober life is the best decision that you can ever make. It affects your physical health in almost every conceivable way.

My biggest fears in life include being in large groups of strange people, standing at parties by myself, and really just people in general. 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.

Balance Your Life

Some people who don’t drink alcohol have made a conscious decision to eliminate alcohol from their lives, sometimes through the help of a 12-step program such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Whether it’s to improve your physical health or state of mind, it can be beneficial to explore the role alcohol plays in your life. Developing a structured routine can help you stick to your sobriety goals, make healthy decisions, and reduce the likelihood of triggers and relapse. Create a structured daily routine, but plan for days you may experience sickness or chronic illness flare-ups that could require adjusting your routine. Toxic relationships are those in which you feel unheard, misunderstood, unsupported, demeaned, unsafe, or attacked. Both old habits and unhealthy relationships can trigger those negative emotional states that may increase the risk of relapse.

You could be exploring living a more sober lifestyle for various reasons and some days it’s definitely easier than others to choose to have a drink or not. Whatever your personal reasons for being sober curious, we want to help you along the way. Sobriety can be a fixed-term goal (i.e., staying sober for Dry January) or a lifelong goal (living a sober lifestyle or staying sober from all substances). In fact, being sober can make your life more fun and rewarding than it’s ever been before. Another tool that’s available for recovering addicts is aftercare programs.

Identify Potential Triggers

The purpose of a sober house is to prepare you for your sober life, including being responsible for yourself. This practical booklet demonstrates, through simple examples, how A.A. Members throughout the world live and stay sober one day at a time. Living sober requires sober life identifying triggers that could cause a relapse. Often when people relapse, they’ve attempted to quit using on their own, and then they later seek out a sober community for support or treatment. Triggers can come in many forms, and they’re different for everyone.

One study found that mutual support groups can be as effective as 12-step programs and may help improve the odds of success for people who are committed to maintaining a lifetime of total abstinence. https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/the-consequences-of-alcohol-symptoms-and-effects/ It may help to pick a quit date, or a day when you choose to discontinue use of alcohol or drugs. It’s also helpful to change your environment—for instance, avoid going to bars.

Transitions Sober Living

You’ll enjoy general health and wellness that you can’t necessarily achieve if you’re drinking or using drugs. When you’re sober, you have more time and mental energy to spend on the people who matter most to you. Without the distraction of wondering when you can go get drunk or high, you’ll be able to stay physically and emotionally present with others. You’ll probably find that the important relationships in your life mean more to you than drugs or alcohol ever did.

• How to Socialize Without Alcohol and Still Have a Great Time You know that your drinking has gotten out of control lately.
• Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website.
• Much of our social behaviors involve the use of substances in one form or another.
• Now, there’s no more forgotten memories or over compassing worry for what may have happened.
• Getting sober and staying sober takes courage, consistency, and support from others.

Choosing a life of sobriety means choosing a healthy life for you and keeping the promises you make to yourself. When you’re not hungover, chances are you’re a lot more productive. Living a sober life usually means doing more of the things you’ve wanted to do.