12 Tips to Stay Sober from Alcohol

But there are other factors as well, including genetics and pre-existing health problems. For this reason, we strongly advise speaking with a medical professional before trying to quit on your own. You should plan to taper for between three and seven days depending on how much you’re used to drinking. Slowly reduce the amount of alcohol you consume each day until you reach sobriety. If you begin to experience serious withdrawal symptoms, drink enough to make the symptoms subside. If you’ve been unable to quit on your own, you should consider attending an alcohol rehab center.

Now is the time to get physically active to help you stay clean and sober.

1. Fortunately, by day 30, you tend to recognize a few things that will help you to stay sober.
2. It comes from the community surrounding the PERL computer programming language, invented by the brilliant Larry Wall.
3. Belinda Gordon-Battle is a licensed clinical therapist and life consultant based in Miami while providing therapeutic services across the globe.

Going from a life of drinking to a life in recovery from alcoholism can be challenging. At the very least, you want to get your drinking habits and health under control. In this post, I’ll show you how to stop drinking using simple techniques, mindset shifts, and relying on the support systems around you. If you’re involved in a 12-step program, you likely already know the importance of milestones.

Abstinence stage

If these emotions become excessive, they can hold you back from recovery. If you are trying to maintain a sober lifestyle, those feelings can become toxic and contribute to relapse if you don’t deal with them properly. Most people who make their way into recovery have left a lot of pain and suffering in their wake. Feeling guilty or ashamed of past behavior or actions during active addiction is natural and healthy. A mental health professional can help you cope with some of the challenges you’ll face on your path to sobriety.

Coping with Withdrawal Symptoms

Binaural beats are a powerful method of entraining brain waves with sound to help with focus, meditation, relaxation, and sleep. One of the foremost American neurosurgeons, and former Harvard neurosurgery professors, has spoken highly of the power of binaural beats to help with addiction recovery. Maybe because it doesn’t come from a pharmaceutical company.

Develop healthy relationships

Remind yourself of why you want to cut back, talk to a friend about it and distract yourself with a hobby or exercise, the NIAAA suggests. You might reach for alcohol when you’re really just thirsty, says Crews. Drink a cup of drug overdose definition, risks, signs, and more soothing tea or a tall glass of water before you imbibe—once your thirst is quenched, you may not feel the need for as much—or any—alcohol. You may also consider joining an online support group to help you feel less alone.

Get a job to stay sober.

You can create barriers in your life, in the form of new habits. For example, you may have developed the habit of reaching for a drink whenever you are in a stressful situation. Over time, you can develop a new and healthier habit of calling a supportive friend first. Once you are past the impulse of wanting a drink, you will have a chance to think about the consequences.

This didn’t motivate me to quit, but I was afraid of how bad things could get if I drank too much. One thing that has kept me sober is that I no longer wanted to be the person I was as a drinker. I’m not just referring to how I behaved while under the influence, but my general demeanor, reputation, and options for life were all begging for a massive change. A healthy fear of the consequences is important, but using them alone to curb your alcohol consumption has another serious drawback. By this metric, it’s easy to justify consuming alcohol to excess because so many people are doing it.

Some people may feel so “broken” that they almost feel they can no longer experience joy and confidence, or have healthy relationships again. During this stage, most people focus their energy on coping with cravings and resisting the urge to drink. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), recovery is a process that involves remission from AUD and quitting heavy drinking for good. Recovery from alcohol addiction generally follows the stages of abstinence, withdrawal, repair, and growth. Detox can be a difficult process, but taking care of yourself is the best way to ensure a successful outcome. Make sure to drink plenty of fluids, get enough rest, and seek medical help if needed.

Most people don’t recover from substance use disorders overnight. Becoming sober is a gradual process that can take weeks, months, or years. Many people battle with lapses and relapses during their recovery journey. https://rehabliving.net/marijuana-detox-what-you-should-know/ Although not as well known a solution as AA, there are several medications that can help you quit drinking. Naltrexone helps reduce your motivation to drink by lessening the pleasurable effects of alcohol.

If your work requires meetings in bar settings, consider working towards a new career, where you have more control over your social activities outside of work. This needn’t be a cause for discouragement—oftentimes 2c-b guide people make a complete recovery, and experience better mental health than they have in years once they quit alcohol. However, there is a reason many rehab programs last several months.

Keep in mind that self-help strategies are helpful tools, but you may need additional help to remain sober long-term. In your mind, sobriety means giving up a large part of this social life and all of the people you drink with. You may not think about this constantly, but it’s in the back of every drinker’s mind. It’s one of the things that all recovering alcoholics warn you about.

It took a couple of years, and making connections with like-minded people, to help him get sober. “They took me by the hand and walked with me when I couldn’t walk on my own.” His rehab counselor suggested that he move into a sober living housing community in Hickory, NC. “There was enough stability, and it put structure into my life,” he says. Then the NFL Alumni Association got him into the Desert Hope Treatment Center in Las Vegas, where he now continues his recovery while working as a patient liaison. Social drinking led to sneaking water bottles filled with alcohol into high school.