How to stay sober

Recovery is a difficult process for all who go through it. In fact, most understand that it’s a lifelong commitment to practicing sobriety. Although recovery is challenging, the first 90 days are often the most difficult and crucial. The environment and habits that you develop and create for yourself during the initial phase of your recovery are essential to your overall health and wellness. During this period of time, new habits have yet to be formed. As a result, it’s easy to revert back to old patterns. However, there are a few things that you can do to make your transition to a healthier lifestyle easier.
Develop a Support System
Developing a support system can be a tremendous source of help when you first start your journey. It’s extremely beneficial to have other people you can talk to when you’re frustrated or just needing encouragement. Having the right people in the right places has the ability to help sustain you during those first few months of recovery. If you don’t have family or friends you can lean on, you might want to consider facilities like Detox Centers in Ohio. Many of these centers have systems in place to provide support.
Attend Meetings Regularly
It’s also a good idea to make attending group meetings a consistent part of your schedule. These meetings allow you to be around other people who are in recovery. It also provides a safe environment to express your struggles, fears, and concerns. This is important. Meetings do more than lend a voice and an ear to your struggle. They put you in the company of professionals who are familiar with the difficulties of overcoming addiction. You are around people that can help you on a deeper level, as well as guide you through this difficult process. This is why it’s a good idea to continue to attend meetings. They will help you stay the course. Plus, seasoned professionals are a huge educational resource when it comes to addiction. They, more often than not, have information like the Periodic Table of Drug Addiction as well as other pieces of information to keep you informed about your particular problem.

Create a Temptation Free Environment
This last tip may be the most difficult to create and follow, yet the most effective. One of the most important elements of recovery in the first few months is creating an environment that will not cause you to resort to old unhealthy habits. As a result, you will need to eliminate sources of temptation. It may require that you remove alcohol from your home or any other offending source. It may even require you to avoid certain people, places, and things. This is an intensely personal process. However, it’s necessary if you want to overcome your addiction.

Keep a Schedule
Creating a routine may seem insignificant, however, it’s one of the best things that you can do to stay focused and actively involved during your recovery. You need to know what the day will hold for you and commit to following a schedule. This helps develop discipline, which is needed not only for recovery but for responsible living. It helps to know what your day will hold and what you can look forward to. It also helps you to develop a greater sense of purpose. All of these virtues are extremely important to the recovery process and can even help encourage and fuel your recovery. At first, you may not recognize the benefits of keeping a schedule. However, given enough time, you will quickly see how developing a routine will restore peace and order to your life.

Recovery is a difficult process no matter how you approach it. However, there are things that you can do to make the process easier and increase your chances of success. Most of what you will do during the recovery process will rest largely on learning to properly care for yourself and to put the proper tools and resources in your path. Make the commitment to make the initial phase of your recovery easier by putting the right support systems and habits in place. Your life is worth all the effort you put into overcoming your addiction. This is a form of self-love that will propel your life forward in a positive direction.