Sobriety Is Celebration: How to Stay Sober During the Good, the Bad, and the Everyday

Happy sober man smiling.

How does one celebrate recovery during the good, the bad, and the everyday? Here we have the real concern, the real question to be asking. This is very relevant, as “how to” and “do it yourself” are highly valued in a recovery setting.

Yes, we all know that we need and want to hold our support groups close to our hearts, but we want to do a lot for ourselves too. In our venture for recovery, we want to take charge and make a commitment to a better life. We want a guide for celebrating recovery and for keeping our sobriety as a story of that celebration.

We need advice, tips, and smart resources for staying sober. The phenomena of relapse are every addict’s worst nightmare, every addict’s greatest fear, every addict’s biggest concern of them all. We want to avoid the risk of relapse in every way possible, so any advices we can get towards that goal are always accepted.

How to Live Life Through Recovery Every Day

There are strategies that recovering addicts can apply to their lives to make recovery a healthy habit of its own. For example, recovering addicts should:

  • Find healthy, exciting activities to become enthralled in. Recovering addicts usually carry over some of the addictive personality traits of their old substance abuse habits, even after going through rehab. This likely won’t last forever, but it could be months or even years before a recovering addict manages to change their personality away from an addictive one. Engaging in exercise, gym time, sports, outdoor activities, healthy eating, nutrition, exercise classes, and other activities like that give a recovering addict a fun hobby to engage in, all while staying sober.
  • Do something every day that contributes to recovery. Recovering addicts should read books on recovery, keep a recovery journal, talk to other friends who are also in recovery, and do something, even if it is something little, that contributes to their recovery every day. Anything worth doing is worth doing every day, so a recovering addict should make a point to embrace recovery through some activity every, single day.
  • Continue to work on recovery through outpatient support groups and aftercare. Recovering addicts (especially in the first several months or years following rehab completion) should engage in an outpatient group of some kind to continue to celebrate recovery and to commit to sobriety.
  • Approach sobriety with a “no-tolerance” “sober celebration of recovery-only” approach. In order to stay sober for life, recovering addicts can celebrate life, they can party and have a good time with friends and family, but they have to do it all sober. Even just one slip up with drugs or alcohol can mean the end of it all, all that hard work lost and tarnished. Recovering addicts need to commit to lasting sobriety and abstinence that is never-ending.
  • Recovering addicts should help others. One of the greatest boons to one’s own sobriety is in helping others, whether for something having to do with recovery or not. No volunteer ever looked back on a day spent volunteering and said, “I regret that.” One of the best things a recovering addict can do (not only to support their own recovery but to support all mankind) is to help others.

Celebrating recovery through the good days and the bad takes commitment and a special dedication to lasting sobriety. The above recommendations are helpful, and there are others out there too. Ultimately, it will come down to an individual’s commitment to their recovery and how willing they are to fight for lasting abstinence.


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AUTHOR

Ren

After working in addiction treatment for several years, Ren now travels the country, studying drug trends and writing about addiction in our society. Ren is focused on using his skill as an author and counselor to promote recovery and effective solutions to the drug crisis. Connect with Ren on LinkedIn.

NARCONON ARROWHEAD

DRUG EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION