Some Ways to Live a Happy Sober Life

Good friends

People addicted to drugs often become so dependent on them to numb their negative emotions that for them, happiness becomes this fake thing that only lasts for a small period of time. Often they are convinced that everyone else does some kind of drug, pills or alcohol to cope with life and enjoy life, but that’s not the case.

There are many people living sober lives that don’t turn to drugs to numb their emotions or seek a high. While being sober doesn’t guarantee a happy life, using drugs ensures one is trapped in a downward spiral of addiction.

Most successful people are living sober and don’t think about getting high. They are a positive influence on society and don’t need to be under the influence to enjoy life. Successful people take care of their responsibilities sober, they deal with ups and down sober and enjoy life to the fullest also sober.

Here are some ways that will help you build a happy, sober and responsible life:

Happy working

1. Be productive at work and work at a job that you like. We spend a lot of time at work, so it would make perfect sense to be happy in what you are doing. Get a job that relates to you somehow. If you like clothes, then work at a clothing store or a clothing design office. If you love cars find a job selling cars, or if you like fixing cars then work on being a mechanic. While at times it can seem like we don’t have many options or a choice in what we do, we can always look for a better job that we love and create the future we want while we working at our current jobs.

2. Surround yourself with happy people. The people we surround ourselves with reflects on our quality of living, as we are who our friends are. If our friends feel down when they are around us, we will start feeling down just like them. Find friends who like to do what you like to do - if you like to read then surround yourself with readers, if you like to write, surround yourself with writers.

3. Every day, make some time for yourself. Get out of your house and take a walk, walk to the store and buy yourself an ice-cream, go to the park and sit on a bench, go to the beach and walk barefooted on the sand, when it rains walk outside and stand in the rain—or whatever it is you enjoy doing yourself. Make some time for yourself. Entertain yourself because you are the most important person.

4. Spend time on things you love to do. We all have things that we love to do, so if you don't already have a hobby, figure out what you love to do and do it. Keep trying different things until you decide what you like to do best.

For example, if you like taking pictures, go somewhere and start taking pictures. You can start by taking pictures in your room of the little things and get used to the different lenses. Keep trying different ways to shoot and watch few videos on YouTube on how to be a photographer.

If you love your hobby, you will enjoy any training you might need or want, and you will be able to spend a lot of time working on your hobby.

5. Live with people who are good for you. Live with people who are clean and respectful, people who will help you live an easy clean life. You can’t be in sobriety while your roommate is an alcoholic, so choose who you live with carefully. Keeping a clean house will reflect on your life quality and level of happiness.

6. Pick up a book and start reading to feed your mind every day. Find out what you are interested in reading and get the book. These days we can download any book for free from a library or other website, or for little money. We have access to a lot of resources and should take advantage of this.

7. This is something I love to do: take yourself to the mall and buy yourself new clothes. If you have the money, get everything from head to toe and come out of the mall wearing all the new clothes. If you can’t afford a full set of new clothes, then get one thing that you really like. For me, buying new clothes is a joy because it makes me feel so good about myself and about everything around me.

8. Plan trips and vacations with your family or friends. Work out a plan and execute it. Meet with your family or friends, discuss the location and take action. Make sure you start to save some vacation money and then really do take yourself on vacation. It is good to leave the rest of your life on hold while on vacation and enjoy your time, because we all need a break from time to time.

Good couple

9. Your partner can bring you down or take you all the way up. A partner can give you strength in the morning or can make you feel that you are leaving the house broken. Your partner has to be the one to have your back all the time, has to be supportive of what you doing, and has to be in sync with you. You can establish that by communication—communicate with your partner about what’s going on and how you feel. Use your words and talk about what is happening. Discuss bills, work, feelings and responsibilities, and anything else that is on your mind. Be good to your partner and be respectful, as this will reflect back on your level of happiness.

10. In sobriety we should accept the feelings or emotions we feel and work through them. If we are happy, let’s be happy. If we are bored, its okay to be bored. And if you don’t want to be bored, then you have the power to change that. If we are sad we can be sad for a little bit, no problem. As long as you pick yourself back up after being down, you will be fine. The rise and fall of emotions is a natural part of life. So, we should accept any emotions that come our way and decide to work through them. We don’t have to run from anything now so whatever we feel, that’s fine for now. We can be proactive over our emotions. We don’t need an outside stimulus, like drugs or alcohol, to change our emotions. How we decide to feel about certain circumstances and our own emotions is up to us. And it’s up to us to change the way we feel.

Working at home

11. Open your own hustle from home and make extra money. Having a job is very important to our happiness so why not work on our own products or our own company in our own time and build it little by little?

12. Always, always take care of your family responsibilities. If you are a father or mother, whether you are married or single, do the father/mother thing and take care of your family. If you are a brother, take care of your sisters. If you are a husband or wife, take care of your home and family. People may depend on you, so always take care of your responsibilities and never let your family down.


Having ups and down is a part of life and we all go though it. No one is happy all the time. We go through emotions and try to live our lives to the fullest. Don’t let your thoughts take control of you, because your thoughts are not supposed to control you. You are in control. So if you feel bored you have the power to change that, don’t sit and just be bored. When there is a problem, try to solve it right away so you don’t end up with two problems later and a lot to juggle.

Enjoy your sober life by being in the moment. Take your time and don’t rush anything. Never lose sight of your goals and keep working towards them, because making progress towards your goals will make you happy. And by steadily keeping at it, step by step, one day you will get there!

AUTHOR

Heni

Heni earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Video Production from the Art Institute of Houston and went on to work in the media for 16 years, eventually becoming an Operations Manager for a television station. Having witnessed the harm that drugs and alcohol wreak on people’s lives, he is now utilizing his skills to spread awareness about drug and alcohol addiction and to bring hope to families and individuals who are battling addiction.

NARCONON ARROWHEAD

DRUG EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION