Overcoming any addiction is tough. Beginning the ongoing course of recovery is half the journey. Learning how to cope and live your newly sober life can be stressful, confusing, and scary – but it doesn’t have to be. These daily lifestyle habits help highly effective sober people support their lifelong recovery.
1. Start a gratitude journal
Start and keep up a gratitude journal. At the end of each day take 15 to 30 minutes of your time to write down the positive events that happened in your day. This simple routine has proven to lower stress levels, improve the ability to focus, and could help you zero in on what truly matters.
Set an alarm reminder to help you make a habit of it. Keep your gratitude journal by your bedside to jot down your thoughts before you go to bed. Write as many things as you want. On bad days, read back through your journal to help you readjust your attitude and remember the good things in life.
2. Meditation
Mindful meditation has been proven to increase chances of long-term sobriety. Meditation, yoga, deep breathing exercises, and prayers are all spiritual habits that can help you connect to your inner-self.
Even if you’re not a spiritual person, taking the time for self-reflection may benefit your spirituality. Meditation shows you how to be in the moment and not wish you were somewhere or someone else. These are key facets to effectively living in long-term sobriety. Meditation can easily become your coping mechanism and is a way to ask for guidance from within to stay healthy.
3. Attend support groups
Maintaining a healthy social circle is vital during recovery. At all costs, you should avoid surroundings that support or overlook substance abuse. There’s nothing more efficient that having a support system. Sharing with others will help you from keeping feelings inside where they may cause unwelcome stress and anxiety.
Committing to a support group gives you a sense of family. Peer support groups are effective and supportive places to voice concerns, struggles, and opportunities to celebrate with others important milestones.
4. Maintain a healthy diet
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle goes beyond staying sober. A healthy nutritious diet is essential to your new sober living. Eating healthy and staying hydrated will not only relieve stress and anxiety, it will make you feel better from the inside out.
Stock up your kitchen with healthy food choices like fresh produce and whole-grain cereals, while avoiding processed foods and sugars. Eat when hungry, this practice will help you avoid craving-eating to overcome emotions like depression, anxiety, or fatigue.
5. Find new interests
To maintain a highly effective sober life you must break from your former routine. Look for constructive activities that keep you engaged. If you have a hobby, look for a club where you can interact with others that share the same interests.
Developing new interests also helps you embrace learning new things. This could be the right moment to go back to school and finish a degree, learn a new skill that can help you advance in your career. New interests help take the focus off your problems, expose you to new peers, and promote a healthy lifestyle.
6. Create a daily routine
A daily schedule is a powerful tool. Something as simple as making your bed can have many benefits for all people, not just those enduring addiction recovery. First of all, it gives you a sense of accomplishment. Second, picking up on one simple habit can help you start others such as cleaning your kitchen or organizing your bedroom.
Make a list of things that need to be done every day. The more structure you can give your days, the less likely you are to run into stress by forgetting important things or unexpectedly running out of time. Stress is one of the most noteworthy relapse triggers, so maintaining a somewhat strict daily routine can help you steer stress away.
7. Exercise
Staying active is vital for an overall healthy lifestyle. Exercise lowers stress levels, releases endorphins that make you feel happier, and can even reduce alcohol cravings. It boosts self-confidence and personal health, keeps you active and awake during the day, and lowers your stress levels significantly.
Joining a gym or a fitness studio and scheduling an hour of exercise into your daily routine is a great start. Setting time aside for a peaceful walk, a dance class, or a friendly football game after work is just as physically and mentally healthy as jogging on a treadmill or lifting weights at the gym.
