Sober Living Archives - Page 4 of 6

6 Ways to Help Your Recovery in Houston

Posted on November 27, 2017 by JohnAdmin

If you’re in the city of Houston, then you’ll know that there’s really no shortage of things to do and places to check out without sipping so much as a drop of alcohol. However, if you’re coming from a life of reckless drinking or regular drug use, then there’s probably a lot you haven’t had a look at in a while – or ever. Houston is full of opportunities of sober adventures to help your recovery in Houston if you know where to look.

And it’s important to have some adventure, especially during recovery in Houston. People make the mistake of thinking that sober living is just boring, bland and meaningless. In contrast, it’s the absolute opposite. It’s about experiencing the radiance of life without any of the fog brought about by a high. This isn’t about sitting around in a circle crocheting (although there’s nothing wrong with that if it’s what you’re into) – it’s about making new discoveries, meeting new people and finding new hobbies, all while being 100% yourself during your recovery in Houston.

If you’re struggling to find new things to do during your recovery in Houston, here are 6 ideas.

Find Friends In Houston

Houston is a big place, with a population of over 2 million – making it the most populous city in the state of Texas, and one of the best places in Texas for meeting new people and discovering new sights during your recovery in Houston. There are a couple ways to go about that.

The most obvious in our day and age is through the Internet. Like any major city, Houston went digital a few years ago – you can get around, find restaurants and seek out events all through the palm of your hand. You can also find new friends through online meetup apps and websites, which let you sort through potential group meetups by interest, and check into local groups on social media websites to ask around for hangout spots and make new buddies.

Or you can go the old-fashioned route, and just go straight to where the people are. Head out into a city district of your choosing, and talk to people at local sports clubs, theaters, or community centers. Either way, finding people to enjoy sober life with can be helpful for recovery in Houston.

Hang Out In Cafes

If you loved bar-hopping, drinking in the atmosphere of loud clubs and quiet lounges, then opt for the sober alternative – cafes. They come in all shapes and sizes, and many go through great lengths to set themselves apart from the regular old Starbucks down the block. If you love coffee, tea, or baked goods, make it your new mission to discover your favorite little caffeinated book reading spot in the city while enjoying recovery in Houston.

Check Into A Gym

Exercise does an excellent job at working off stress and keeping addiction at bay, while helping your recovery in Houston from the effects of addiction – and it also provides you with a great excuse to make new friends, set personal goals, and make massive physical changes to your body and the way you feel.

You don’t have to go to a strength gym or pop into Planet Fitness and spend an hour on the treadmill – you can join other clubs or classes geared towards a fitness choice of your own, from yoga to football to karate, and everything in between.

Volunteer At A Houston Charity

There are several charities and volunteer spots in Houston who regularly look for people available to help, whether that means helping cook at soup kitchens or distributing blankets among the poor.

Not only do you make a difference in someone’s day, but you get to feel like you’re doing a little to give back to the city, and give back to others.

The Houston region is still dealing with the aftermath of flooding from earlier this year in some places – donating to local organizations and lending a hand at reconstruction efforts can also go a long way to making a change.

Check Out A Sobriety Community For Your Recovery In Houston

There are plenty of Houston sober living and sobriety communities looking for people who struggle to stay sober, and need the help with recovery in Houston. This is especially true for people straight out of rehab, who often struggle to deal with all the new challenges of sober living, and need a little help getting back into the rhythm of living life without drugs or alcohol.

Go On A Houston Adventure

Houston and the surrounding area has plenty of adventurous outdoor activities for groups, families and friends. If you’re not the outdoorsy type, then this obviously isn’t an option for you – but if you don’t mind doing a little exploring and like to take the time now and again to rediscover nature, then you might be surprised what Houston has to offer in that regard.

There are plenty of things to do and places to see that aren’t mentioned here at all. It’s all up to you to head out there and give life a chance – and see what comes around for you to be discovered during your recovery in Houston. If you’re the more cautious type, there are plenty of online resources that are perfect not just for tourists, but for long-time Houstonians looking for a new adventure or a potential treat.

You really don’t need alcohol to have a good time. In fact, in all of these cases, alcohol will just make your experience much worse.

What Are the Advantages to a Houston Sober Living Community?

Posted on November 16, 2017 by JohnAdmin

It’s hard to overcome drug addiction. Regardless of the exact nature of your addiction – the emotional factors, the physical dependence and withdrawal, the lack of support or constant temptations – everyone who struggles to stay clean struggles for a reason. It’s one of those things that can’t really be compared. Everyone has their own challenges to overcome – and as such, a single unified treatment is nearly impossible. That’s when a Houston sober living community can come in handy.

Drug addiction treatment is all about matching someone to the best fitting treatment model. It’s not so much that therapists are looking for a perfect fit – they’re looking for the best fit. Perfect isn’t how life works, and it’s the same in addiction treatment.

Talk therapy like CBT and DBT, group therapies, art therapy and medications are just a few of the many possible tools used by mental health experts and treatment facility coordinators in the treatment of drug addiction. But sometimes, therapy isn’t quite enough. Drug addiction can change the way we think and feel, and it can affect our perception for quite some time. As it takes a while for the brain to readjust and repair after an addiction, cravings can last for weeks and months.

Therefore treatment options like a Houston sober living community have seen a lot of success. “Rewiring the brain”, so to speak, is a challenge. But with living environments that simulate the responsibilities of real life without any of the temptations, patients can more easily confront their cravings, overcome them, and move on to living healthy lives.

What a Houston Sober Living Community Means

A Houston sober living community is an apartment, home or communal property of some other kind maintained and used for tenants who want to stay sober. It’s typically advised as a post-rehab alternative to jumping straight into living “in the real world” or to replace other outpatient programs.

Rules at a Houston sober living community change from one community to the next, but typically there are a few ground rules that never change.

The biggest and most important rule is that sobriety is paramount in a Houston sober living community. This means that, no matter what, drugs and alcohol are not allowed on the premises. Some places go so far as to ban any products that are commonly used as alcohol alternatives, such as mouthwash, or even bath soap. They will also have unscheduled drug tests to determine whether the rules were broken, and to uncover the possibility of drug use at the facility.

There are also strict visitation rules in place, to prevent any behavior that might enable drug use. This means no sleepovers, and curfews. These curfews are also meant to help people struggling with sleeping cycles and concrete schedules get used to going to bed and waking up at consistent times.

On top of sleeping right, many Houston sober living communities put an emphasis on eating right, moving often, and finding work. Most Houston sober living communities make it mandatory to look for a job, keep a job, or go to school.

Sober communities aren’t just glorified prisons. They’re communities with systems in place to help people stay strict with themselves – but they also put an emphasis on activities that help tenants bond with one another, find common interests, and work on themselves in their free time.

A Houston sober living community doesn’t just stay in one place – they often plan events, frequently outdoors, to foster new interests and ignite a passion for old hobbies. Interests and hobbies are important for drug recovery – they provide an emotional and creative outlet, and help people measure their own post-addiction progress through their measured progress in other skills.

Why People Choose Houston Sober Living Communities

Life is tough – even the day-by-day can take a while to get used to straight out of the rehab environment. A Houston sober living community or home tries to emulate the responsibilities and necessities of life as closely as possible, while still providing a safe environment that offers therapy, and takes away temptations in stressful times.

Through men and women’s Houston sober living communities, people can learn to cope and master life outside of rehab, completely drug-free.

Recovery Goes On

Ultimately, frequency and consistency will never stop being important in long-term recovery. If you want to stay sober, then discipline is necessary. Of course, ideally, you’re never alone in this: friends, family, loved ones, no matter who you have on your side, if they believe in your ability to recover and support you when things get tough, you should have the motivation and inspiration to stay clean.

Life has a bit of habit of throwing curveballs at you; curveballs that will test you in every way. While Houston sober living communities can help you get used to living without drugs, and even teach you how to enjoy a sober life, nothing can really prepare you for days when it feels like your world is falling apart. From divorce, to death and injury, it’s these problems that pose the biggest risk to years and years of recovery being interrupted with a relapse.

This is where the support networks of Houston sober living communities and other walks of life become central to your ability to remain strong and stay clean. No matter how bad things get, there’s always a way back to normalcy, a way back to happiness and a good life. It’s never easy, but every tragedy has an end, and a new beginning afterwards.

Can A Sober Living Program Help Your Teenager?

Posted on October 24, 2017 by JohnAdmin

Life post-rehab can be incredibly hard on a teen. Not only do they have to deal with their newfound sobriety, but they’re pressured to stay sober whilst getting back into life with all its responsibilities, including school work, creating and maintaining a social life, and struggling with questions of identity and motivation. Some teens feel like their past behavior was a let-down, prompting feelings of shame – others find themselves crushed under the stress of real life right after a stint in rehab. That’s where a sober living program comes into play.

To many, inpatient residential programs simply do not provide enough time for a patient to acclimatize themselves to what life is like after drug use and sobriety. It’s massive shift, and the difficulty of it can be a little much. Parents often turn to outpatient programs to help their children adjust, but there’s more to sobriety than asking for help. Learning to deal with all of life’s difficulties outside of rehab is an essential part of anyone’s journey through recovery – but far too many teens are returned into the same environment that fostered their addiction, surrounded by temptations that might allow them to return to drug use.

That is where a sober living program can help. A Sober living program is unique from outpatient programs or other post-rehab treatment plans. They involve integrating people into realistic, responsibility-oriented environments, without the temptation of drugs. Here, teenagers and adults alike can adjust to life outside of rehab by applying for work or school, socializing with other sober people, creating support groups to prevent relapses, and regularly joining into meetings and activities.

How A Sober Living Program Works

Sober living programs can be built in many versatile ways, but they all follow a basic set of unspoken, unwritten tenets defining what a sober living program is:

No drugs, alcohol, or late-night guests. To prevent the temptation towards using again, sober living programs are strict about the possession of any addictive substances. Some even control alcohol-containing items such as mouthwash. A strict curfew also forbids tenants from staying out too late or bringing guests in for in-house parties.
Chores and bills are necessary. A strict schedule is laid out to ensure that everyone in the program does a set number of tasks or chores per day, and takes care of their bills and costs. Adult tenants must have a job or must be searching for one while paying their monthly costs, while teens still in school must stay in school.
There are mandatory events and meetings. Everyone must attend group counseling sessions or community meetings, although you’re not forced to attend every single one. It’s your choice whether you prefer to keep to yourself, save for the mandatory meetings.

An overview of a typical sober living program will give the impression that all sober living facilities are extremely strict, terrifying places to live. But that is not how they’re run. The basis of sober living is to give teens and adults a structure to adhere to post-rehab, to give them the skills and habits they’ll need to maintain their sober discipline outside of addiction treatment facilities. At times, this may require tough love. It’s possible to be kicked out of a program for possessing drugs, or failing to go to school/work.

Ultimately, these aren’t prison camps or military training facilities – they’re programs meant to help people struggling with addiction get better. Most sober living programs consider people’s unique circumstances and disabilities, and help them fit into the program. Individual therapy and counseling is combined with the program’s mandatory group therapy to provide a private space for tenants to air their worries and address their concerns. Some people struggle not just with addiction, but codependent mental disorders such as general anxiety and PTSD – as such, everyone’s individual treatment is different.

Why Sober Living Is Perfect For Teens

Sober living programs help teens establish habits that make life without drugs much easier. They teach teens how to take control of life and establish a productive schedule, regardless of what a teen may eventually want to do in life. They help them manage their time, apply focus and mindfulness in everyday tasks, and work with others to improve themselves.

A sober living program typically emphasizes social ability and communication between tenants to help individuals foster a sense of community among one another, and create the sort of inspirational, motivational air needed to make it through the first few months of recovery.

Responsibility and discipline are central to sober living, not just as a program but in general. When addiction sets in, it can take over the way your brain interprets pleasure and completely change the way you feel joy and happiness for years to come. Fighting against that – fighting against your own mind – requires dedication and a powerful motive. For teens, finding that motive can be difficult.

A sober living program will take it upon themselves to help their tenants find that reason to stay sober, and use it as motivation even in the darkest of times. Because a sober living program typically does not have a time limit, they are also an ideal choice for post-rehab treatment as they allow tenants to stay until they feel ready to move on without the stringent structure of a sober living environment.

Building Self-Confidence Helps Maintain Sobriety

Posted on October 12, 2017 by JohnAdmin

Self-confidence is said to be the key to many things. We’re told repeatedly that you must be self-confident to nail that job interview, be self-confident when asking that cute guy or girl out, be confident in your choices as a consumer and customer, show self-confidence when alone and traveling – the list goes on and on. Self confidence is also important to help recovering addicts maintain sobriety.

It’s solid advice. Self-confidence is encouraging in any situation: if one person is unsure, the other person’s confidence might help them feel more secure. However, when it comes to addiction treatment, self-confidence is about more than just looking sure of yourself. It’s about negotiating with your own mind and battling the effects of addiction with positive stubbornness. Here’s why self-confidence really matters when you’re trying to stay sober – and more importantly, here’s how to cultivate and maintain self-confidence.

Rehab Is The First Step

Sobriety can start off as the beginning of something new and wonderful, or like hell on Earth. Some people feel invigorated, full of a lust for life and ready for everything – others just want to use again as soon as possible. For both, it can be hard to maintain sobriety in the early stages. Emotions ebb and flow, rising and falling like a rollercoaster.

After the initial treatment period – especially after rehab – efforts to maintain sobriety becomes harder and harder. Relapse rates are as high as 60 percent for people in treatment, and overcoming that reality can be very difficult after all the elation of early sobriety that some experience. However, rehab is only the first step. The rest of the journey matters even more. Trying to maintain sobriety is not just about not using – it’s about learning how to enjoy life and live it without drugs. And that’s impossible without some form of confidence.

How Low Self-Esteem Feeds Addiction

Having a low self-esteem feeds the negative thinking that fuels drug use, and keeps an emotional addiction alive and kicking. By calling yourself inadequate, useless and all kinds of derogatory terms, you’re effectively justifying your own drug use, since it’s “the only thing that brings happiness”.

This sort of self-doubt creates a vicious cycle, wherein your negative self-image leads you further down a path of depression and self-destructive behavior, addiction included.

Building Self-Confidence In Sobriety

Self-confidence is troublesomely mistaken for boastfulness by some people, and worse yet, there are those who might mistake overcompensation for “confidence”. The difference between them is honesty. The first step to really being confident is being entirely honest with yourself. You must acknowledge what you can’t do – and, importantly, acknowledge what you can do. Yes, maybe you’re a terrible dancer – but you’re also a pretty good singer. Sure, you might not have the best looks, but maybe people often comment on your hair, or your smile, or the way you dress. Focus on honestly taking stock of yourself and deciding what you like and don’t like.

For anyone struggling with addiction, one of your major personal dislikes is most likely going to be your substance abuse. And that’s a start – but it’s important to go further from there and work to maintain sobriety.

Once you know what you’re working with, set goals. Don’t like yourself physically? Consider exercises to help with that. You don’t have to go to the gym if being in public embarrasses you: start at home, and use online resources to inform yourself. Even someone with “below average” looks will feel far more comfortable in their skin if they can be proud of their strength and fitness. That can go a long way towards helping you really feel better about yourself.

If there’s a hobby you’d like to pursue, then do so – especially if it involves other people. Competitions, cooperation and hobbyist interactions can be a fantastic way to improve, express yourself, and become confident in your growing abilities as an artist, player, athlete or participant of some other kind. No matter what you do: don’t shy away from challenge.

Start small – you don’t have to intimidate yourself with the pressure of changing everything at once. Make changes to yourself in order of magnitude, and you’ll start to feel more confident the more comfortable you feel being yourself.

How To Maintain Sobriety And Overcome Setbacks

Some might say that setbacks are inevitable in recovery. Setbacks do not just refer to relapses, but moments wherein we fail to stick to our personal code. Maybe we catch ourselves thinking about using again. Maybe we’re at the supermarket and find ourselves lingering far too long in the alcohol section. Or maybe we’re throwing furtive looks over to the lotto station, thinking about it.

Indeed, it’s common to see people criticize themselves and berate themselves for not being good enough while they struggle to stay sober. We all make mistakes, but it’s the mistakes we make when trying to stay clean that anger us the most.

A crucial step to successful recovery is learning to overcome those setbacks. That does not just mean stopping setbacks, but it more importantly means having the emotional strength to see past your mistake and look onwards towards a new chance to try again.

It’s especially hard not to dwell on relapses. A relapse can be a devastating moment in a person’s recovery, and it’s sadly quite common – as much as 60 percent of people struggling to maintain sobriety will relapse over the course of their treatment. However, what most people have a challenging time with is understanding that a relapse doesn’t mean a program has failed. Instead, a relapse can mean that you’re going through an unexpectedly tough time now, or it might be the side-effect of meeting someone or remembering something from your past that triggered a powerful craving.

Failure is when you overdose. There really are only two options when struggling with addiction, and those two options are to sober up or not sober up. And if you keep on trying, you will get there, even if it takes the help of a sober living community to get you there.

The reality is that no one wants to stay addicted, and very few people really must deal with the challenges of addiction. In the end it’s a battle between whether you want to use again, or live. If you choose to live, then consider a relapse a sign that you must keep fighting the urges, and dedicate yourself to whatever treatment you have found works best for you. Addiction treatment sadly doesn’t work as quickly as addiction itself – there is a lot of discipline involved, and self-confidence is critical to justifying all the time and effort you spend fighting for your own life.

What is Life At A Sober Living Community Like?

Posted on October 10, 2017October 10, 2017 by JohnAdmin

A sober living community is a neighborhood, building or private complex typically owned by a company or association, with the purpose of treating substance abuse and addiction through the method of sober living. Life at a sober living community is a bit different than in rehab.

Unlike other treatment facilities, sober living communities don’t necessarily treat their tenants as patients, but as tenants. Sober living communities are often meant to be post-rehab treatment facilities where people can go to transition from the sheltered life of residential treatment, to the harsher responsibilities of living alone or in a family.

Life at a sober living community is typically distinguished by their rules: they have strict curfews, require employment or active job seeking, and give each inhabitant a schedule by which they must orient themselves until they feel ready to leave the community. Sober living communities are almost always entirely voluntary (unless court-ordered), and have a very strict no-drug policy.

Life At A Sober Living Community Simplifies Real Living

Life at a sober living community is structured to provide autonomy and teach self-sufficiency, while providing a structured community living wherein all tenants are compelled to come together for regular group meetings, cooperate in community events and activities, and help each other in especially trying or troubling times. These are secular facilities, and treatment is typically not compounded with any 12-step programs or religious material. Instead, tenants are encouraged to seek alternative treatment and therapy outside.

Life at a sober living community emulates many of the responsibilities of real living. Tenants are expected to regularly pay for rent and utilities, stick to the schedules and deadlines, and do their own chores to keep their living space clean. This type of residency is specifically for people who find it difficult to stick to schedules after rehab, and require the incentive and assistance to develop self-discipline. Living in a sober environment can do wonders to people struggling with life outside of rehab.

Self-sufficiency is a major part of life at a sober living community. A huge challenge for people straight out of rehab is to adjust to the difficulties of making payments, meeting deadlines and fulfilling job obligations without the stress-relieving qualities of drug use. Because drugs completely neuter the neurological benefits of most healthy stress management techniques, it can take time and a lot of practice to get back into managing stress completely drug-free. That time is best spent in an environment that safely emulates life’s challenges.

All The Challenges Of Life Without The Temptations

Life at a sober living community is strictly drug-free. While relapses are not necessarily punished, hiding contraband or using on the premises can be enough to get kicked out of a sober living community and sent back into residential treatment. The pressure to not use is relieved by the support and motivation that living in a community of sobriety can give you.

Tenants are encouraged to help one another, inspire, and assist. While each case of addiction is unique in its nature and circumstances, being among other sober people can help bring interesting perspectives to the table, and can help people figure out new ways to deal with their addiction.

Life at a sober living community is built around the concept of support in recovery. Peer support is integral not only in maintaining sobriety, but in promoting empathy and a fulfilling cooperative spirit.

You Begin To Have Fun Again

Enjoying yourself is an integral part of life at a sober living community. While drugs flood the brain with pleasure, they take the joy out of living by neutering your ability to feel much of anything else. As your brain combats the changes of drug use, life will begin to feel like living again – and with that comes a host of different emotions, joy included.

Learning what it’s like to enjoy yourself and have fun doing things that have absolutely nothing to do with drugs or the drive to procure them can be a liberating experience. It can also be encouraging. However, it can also be difficult to manage. As with everything else in early recovery, it’s important to approach this with laser focus. The structure of life at a sober living community helps immensely here, as it allows you to exploit that early enjoyment as a way to build new habits and replace the obsessiveness of substance use with the passion and focus of having a new hobby to care about.

Overcoming addiction isn’t a straightforward process, and it doesn’t just “go away” quickly. The process takes years, and there will be plenty of trying times. Sober living is meant to give you a massive leg up on the situation by pushing you into getting used to a new life without the temptation of drugs, so that when you go back into the real world, you’ll have the job and the schedule needed to focus on the things that really matter.

It Teaches You To Be In Control Again

The biggest danger to such a program is excessive stress. Stress is often what triggers a relapse, as old habits resurface when a dire situation develops. Building a resistance to the kind of stress that puts you off your game – massive anger, tremendous grief, a major injury and weeks of downtime – isn’t really possible. Instead, it’s important to build a mechanism for building that stress off. That’s where fun comes in again.

When you begin to have fun in recovery, you’ll have the opportunity to find ways to take care of major stress. One of the biggest challenges with addiction is that it very quickly wires itself to our stress coping mechanism – instead of anything else, we turn to drugs as a way to deal with highly stressful situations because they’re effective at completely distracting us from the problem at hand.

When drugs are no longer an option, problems become very hard to deal with. Reteaching yourself to use other ways to cope with stress and calm down only becomes possible when you start to see the many alternative ways life has of being fun and enjoyable. You begin to turn to art, writing, exercise or music as a way to build off stress. And best of all, all these things are constructive and effective ways to deal with stress, rather than putting you in increasingly stressful situations.

What Should I Look for in a Sober Living Community?

Posted on October 3, 2017 by JohnAdmin

Living in a sober living community has proven to be a popular and highly effective way of staying sober after rehab – but just like any other addiction treatment program, not every sober living community is made the same. When choosing a sober living community, it’s important you know what you should be looking for – and why.

A sober living community is an alternative to outpatient programs, and are typically elected as an additional measure towards addiction treatment after a stay at rehab. While rehab can help get people clean, staying clean out in the world is very different from staying clean in a rehab facility.

Sober living communities emulate the struggles and challenges of the real world while offering an entirely drug-free environment, and only sober social interaction. It’s meant to teach someone how to live a sober life again after being heavily addicted, and it’s meant to provide an environment where someone can explore living a fulfilling life without the temptation of another high.

These neighborhoods and buildings exist for the express purpose of staying clean – but every neighborhood has a slightly different idea of how to hit that criteria. There are variations, oddities and signature programs that make every sober living community unique, but in general a quality sober living community should involve four simple and important tenets into their philosophy. These are:

A Solid (And Strict) Plan

First and foremost, a good sober living environment should be rather strict and structured. While it is meant to be a living experience where one must deal with all the responsibilities of living a normal life (paying the bills, finding and maintaining a job, fulfilling social obligations), most of the time a sober living community comes with very stringent guidelines when it comes to drug/alcohol possession, drug/alcohol usage, and guests (especially late at night).

However, a great sober living community does not just ban drugs – it creates an alternative. Boredom could be considered one of the reasons relapses happen, and eliminating that boredom means making sure as much of a person’s time is spent being busy. A sober living community with regular programs, group meetings, activities and mandatory job searching/school attendance is a great start. Sober living environments should make it their priority not only to keep drugs out, but to keep the inhabitants stimulated.

Self-sufficiency is the goal here. These programs are excellent to help someone relearn what it means to be consistent and disciplined – with about 90 days, most people will have built the consistency needed to continue on their own. Of course, that does not necessarily mean they have to.

No Definitive Time Limit

You might find a sober living community that offers a restriction on how long you can stay with them, but it isn’t recommended to choose a community that does this. While you are by no means meant to spend a lifetime in a sober living home, you should spend as much time as you need before moving on. Self-sufficiency within the first year is difficult to achieve, and it’s best to spend no less than three months in a sober living community before moving on to either live on your own, or better yet with family.

Do not expect recovery go happen quickly. Progress is made slowly, over months, often at an unnoticeably slow pace. Because of how sobriety works, it is a fantastic idea to supplement your recovery with a goal you can actively work on. If you write, then working on a book or a large writing project gives you something to look forward to, to measure both your writing and sobriety progress. If you are into sports, then look into completing a fitness challenge as a way to improve on all levels.

No matter what it is that interests you, incorporate it into your sobriety. This lets you send yourself a clear message that you intend to focus on seeking out natural, rewarding pleasures rather than the artificial quick fix of an addictive drug.

Social Involvement

It’s a community for a reason. A sober living community that puts an emphasis on encouraging social interaction and living a social life is the better choice here. Even for people who feel uncomfortable with heavy social interaction and tend towards a more introverted life, occasional mandatory group meetings are excellent as a way to create a more open perspective, see into other people’s particular struggles with addiction and, one day, as an opportunity to open yourself to others in a similar position (and feel the relief of doing so).

Aside from mandatory group meetings, a good sober living community will have other optional activities to choose from and join, from team building events to occasional community games or competitions.

A Focus On Self-Improvement

Self-improvement is perhaps the biggest deterrent to relapses, alongside accountability. By effectively creating or recreating a fully-fledged life, you give yourself even more incentive to stay away from your old habits at any cost, even when things are looking grim. However, self-improvement is difficult to think about in early recovery. While there are people who feel manic in their first few weeks of sobriety, others feel gloomy or even depressed. It may take some people a while to adjust to the emotional changes of living drug-free, especially within the real world outside of rehab.

An encouraging atmosphere is a wonderful way to start. Self-improvement, tough as it may be to find the motivation to get started, is necessary for long-term improvement. One of the more effective ways to tackle addiction recovery is as an opportunity towards self-transformation, rather than as the consequence of a bad few months/years. In the interest of working towards that goal, finding a sober living home that promotes several self-improvement programs and encourages its veteran members to take on mentees and help others towards their passions and dreams is a fantastic idea.

At the end of the day, there are many ways to run a sober living environment – but it is vital that any community you choose to be a part of emphasizes:

A solid structure
Lots of social involvement
An open-ended program capable of sustaining someone for months if they need it
And an environment conducive towards self-improvement

Sober living communities are a wonderful way to supplement a “complete” addiction treatment plan, especially as it helps not only teach someone how to live drug-free again, but it gives them an opportunity to live with others and share their experiences.

Sober Friends – The Guide To Making Friends After Recovery

Posted on September 8, 2017September 15, 2017 by JohnAdmin

Sometimes, you must take a risk to gain something worthwhile. Sometimes, that risk may be embarrassment or rejection. Yet when you stand to gain a friendship lasting a lifetime, the risk is always worth it. Having “sober friends” after recovery can be a big help to keeping you on your new life path. These kinds of friends are the people you can spend time with while sober and not feel pressured to drink or use.

Sobriety without friends is harsh, grueling, and one of the most difficult things to go through. You’re training your brain to deal with stress, anger, and sorrow without its favorite coping mechanism, all while fighting the instinct to go back to your old habits and live inside them in comfort. Few people can go through sobriety and loneliness at the same time.

But having friends is about more than just making your recovery easier. It’s about having sober friends – it’s about having people you can rely on, trust on, listen to, be heard by, and more. Sober friends are there for you, they’re the family you choose, and they can help you out of a pinch and provide you with more happiness and joy than a million shots of vodka. However, finding new sober friends to have fun with and live life with while staying sober can be a little challenging.

If you’re open to being open, to taking a few risks and to accepting the possibility of some awkward beginnings in exchange for two or three of the best platonic relationships in your lifetime, then take on this guide to making friends in sobriety, and begin your journey towards having a lot more fun in life.

Find Sober Friends And Hobbies

Step number one is to find things to do that don’t involve alcohol. Preferably, do things that you enjoy. This may be painting, or swimming, or playing video games, or reading books, or any other hobby among millions of choices.

Then, have a look around to see who else shares these hobbies. As we live in the age of the Internet, a quick search online will give you an idea of where to start locally in your search for some new sober friends. Don’t go into step one thinking of picking up new contacts – instead, think of pursuing your hobby even further, and just start a few casual conversations.

Share Experiences Through Group Support

Aside from finding people unrelated to your sobriety, one way to both find a way to vent about your own sobriety and hear what others must say in the struggle through their recovery process, is through your support group. Find a local support group or start one, encouraging those in recovery to come forward and meet up on a regular basis to give updates, check up on each other, and talk about emotions, struggles, pitfalls and speed bumps.

Hearing others talk about their own perspective on sobriety can help you adjust and improve yours, and find a way to better deal with the effects of recovery and regain control over yourself. It can also be a great way to meet like minded people that make good sober friends.

Go To Events And Workshops

Once you’ve chosen a hobby you are really interested in, take it to the next level by going to events and workshops to both become better, and meet others with the same level of passion and commitment. Fitness expos, yoga training camps, art and writing workshops – there are countless places, events and organized meetups out there for you to explore and potentially find new people.

It’s alright to be shy at first – especially if you’re self-conscious. Overcoming that feeling is part of the recovery process, as is gaining a stronger self-esteem and becoming more confident in yourself – and taking the first steps to make new friends helps with that tremendously.

Write About Yourself

Writing an anonymous journal or starting a blog with a pseudonym is one thing – and it’s most definitely a healthy thing, if any of the copious literature on blogging and journaling has anything to say about it – but if you’re looking to make sober friends and find new people to talk to and share life experiences with, then consider putting yourself out there through blogging and social media.

Blogging is a fantastic way to meet other people in the scene, both new and old. Sober living blogs have been around for about if blogging became a thing on the Internet, and many of the most popular blogs continue to be written by single individuals sharing their life experiences on the path to recovery, including their experiences with new people and fresh faces.

You don’t have to be active on Facebook, write daily tweets, post a daily Instagram picture and become glued to your Snapchat account all while juggling a blog – choose one or two things to use for finding new people, and have fun. Instagram is an effortless way to find likeminded individuals, as it lets you easily sort through pictures by interest with the use of hashtags like #soberliving.

If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of using your real name and finding real people in your area to talk to, then consider joining chatrooms instead. There are plenty of online chatrooms dedicated to sobriety, alcoholism, drug use and mental health issues – but if you want to expand into territories that have less to do with your sobriety and more to do with your interests, feel free to search to your hearts content – with Discord, Slack, and a slew of IRC channels, you’re bound to find a chatroom somewhere on the Internet where several people from across the world are talking about the same thing.

The world is smaller than ever thanks to the instant communication afforded by the Internet – and that is something that should empower you, rather than scare you. Overcoming your addiction will take time, but time spent having fun goes by twice as fast, and if you make new sober friends, you’ll find yourself out of your first year of recovery in absolutely no time. It’s natural to be anxious at first – and you’re bound to run into some bad apples eventually. But you’ll find out that with practice, meeting new people becomes easier and easier – and with a little time, you’ll have your social anxieties under control enough to make new friends to share your time with.

The Benefits Of Sobriety In Your Life

Posted on September 6, 2017 by JohnAdmin

Sobriety isn’t just a blessing – it’s something to earn, and be proud of. There are plenty of reasons to choose the benefits of sobriety over the haziness of addiction, aside from being physically healthier and more likely to keep you living to a ripe old age.

Sobriety isn’t just about not using anymore – it’s about being content with life, and having clarity in life. In this sense, clarity and this feeling of contentment refer to being in a place in your life where you’re happy with the way things are. Before you reach this point, you may still be in the emotionally turbulent area of early recovery. Sometimes, people quit drinking and remain “dry drunks”, struggling with many of the same emotions of anger and cynicism without any of the “benefits” of being drunk.

Obtaining the benefits of sobriety is more than just a matter of time – it takes demanding work. Some people must rededicate themselves to what’s most important in their life, after first discovering what that is. Others must transform themselves in a meaningful way, seeking out a new kind of person within themselves by discovering new things, making new friends and enjoying new experiences. And yet others realize that their life is great without drugs, and all they really needed to do was make amends and resolve old grudges.

If you need any motivation to get you to make the leap towards lasting sobriety, then look no further – here are a few benefits of sobriety that you’re unlikely to ever get while addicted.

The Benefits Of Sobriety – Living Life

The first benefits of sobriety is that you get to enjoy life again – and not just a shell of what it once was, but the fullest definition of life you can imagine. Life is bad and good, up and down, hot and cold. It’s hard and it’s easy, and it’s harder for some and easier for others. But it’s always interesting, different and full of opportunities to meet new people and take entirely new directions towards different paths.

Beating an addiction will free you up to the possibilities of dealing with many other problems in your life. Struggling with a terrible job you despise? Find another one. You don’t have to throw all caution to the wind and go after your dream at the expense of everyone you love, but ignoring the toxic aspects of your life is what led you to addiction in the first place. Sobriety teaches you to remove yourself from these situations, and put yourself and everyone else in a better place.

You’ll Make Better Memories

If there’s anything that addiction does well, it’s addle the brain. Methamphetamine and alcohol are some of the worst culprits – one causes brain damage while the other is prone to causing blackouts and memory loss. For many people struggling with alcoholism, not remembering most nights is normal. To keep up appearances, alcoholics will sometimes try and figure out what it is they might have done by making careful statements and watching subtle cues to figure out what happened.

When you’re sober, you not only remember your nights (and days, and mornings), but you remember them more clearly than ever. You’ll also make better memories; memories of enjoying a night out with friends without copious amounts of alcohol or other substances, and you’ll know exactly where you were the night before instead of waking up in a stranger’s apartment.

When was the last time you went to a social occasion that didn’t involve drinking, at night? When was the last time you took a walk outside and looked over the night sky, and the skyline? When was the last time a day felt like its full 24 hours and not a few hours with sharp cuts and memory loss in-between?

Not everyone struggling with addiction will have severe memory issues, but enough people do – and the differences can be staggering. The benefits of sobriety aren’t just about emotional clarity, but it’ll help you see things more clearly, and remember things as they were.

You’ll Relearn What It Means To Feel

When you’re addicted, it can be hard to feel “the right way.” Addiction not only clouds your judgment and messes around with your sense of pleasure, but it acts as a constant buffer against real emotion. Many people use drugs to deal with powerful and painful thoughts – when you first quit, those thoughts burst out of you like a cracked dam, and the result can be catastrophic at first, then enlightening, and then catastrophic again. Some people experience severe mood imbalances when going through recovery – others just plummet into depression, or maintain a manic disposition.

But once all that is over and the benefits of sobriety fully kick in, you’ll remember what it means to feel again – to feel sadness, joy, anger and all the other emotions at appropriate levels and at appropriate times. Life is meant to be experienced with all aspects of its spectrum, and when you cut out parts of it – such as numbing yourself through the constant artificial pleasures of addiction – the consequences to your sense of emotion are severe. Undoing that damage will give you an entirely new outlook on life – and it can help you fall in love with sobriety even more than ever before.

You’ll Understand What It Means To Cope In A Healthy Way

We all need to find ways to cope with stress – that is a natural part of life, and in many ways, it’s a necessary component of mental healthcare. Today, we need to be upfront with people about the realities of mental health issues and their link to extreme stress, and we need to offer solutions that don’t involve therapy and medicine – specifically, coping strategies that people can use to regulate their stress levels and prevent the onset of severe symptoms and conditions, including addiction.

The first thing you need to do is cut out all the unnecessary sources of stress. This may mean cutting back on work responsibilities, moving someplace quieter, or ending a relationship with a particularly toxic individual. When you have done all, you can in that regard, it’s time to learn to cope with what’s left.

Addiction is a coping mechanism, but it is known as a maladaptive coping mechanism – instead of helping you deal with your problems constructively, it makes them worse. Art on the other hand can be an adaptive coping mechanism – instead of making things worse, it allows you to both relieve stress and adapt to the situation in a way that teaches you to be less stressful. The key with finding a healthy coping mechanism is to find a balance between stress and peace. You need your challenges and difficulties, but you also need to catch a break. Too much of one or the other can lead to mental health problems.

Being sober teaches you to control your stress levels through stress management tips and tools – and this helps you prevent relapses, and further eliminate the need for any drugs in your life.

Keeping Your Sobriety From Being The Thing That Defines You

Posted on July 13, 2017July 17, 2017 by JohnAdmin

The journey to sobriety – that is, long-term sobriety – can most definitely be a character sculpting experience. When someone struggles with the fight against addiction and then overcomes that challenge, they only do so by coming out the other end as an entirely different version of themselves. It’s not so much a total personality transformation as much as it simply is a journey to figuring out what you’re all about – what motivates you, what keeps you alive, what keeps you waking up each day to stay focused on life and find innovative ways to enjoy yourself without ever having to go back to those darker days.

Sobriety isn’t a singular goal, it’s a state that has be achieved and maintained. Staying clean – not taking anything that could intoxicate you, from anesthetics and heroin to alcohol and cigarettes – is a huge challenge at first, and will remain a commitment for the rest of your life. But staying sober – retaining the mental clarity to combat addiction and the chances of relapse – is challenging work, especially in the first few months. Many fail a few times until they achieve that final streak of sobriety, and relapses are more common that most would think.

Yet despite the challenge, it’s not meant to define you. Addiction can tear a person apart and destroy their life – but the fight against addiction isn’t meant to consume you in much the same way. It’s mean to free you, to give you the freedom and the opportunity to choose your way through life, forge your own fate, and finally decide for yourself what you want to do and know why you want to do it, without feeling overburdened under the yoke of addiction, without the power to go up against your problems with confidence. Making that distinction, and ensuring that your road to sobriety becomes the final arc of a chapter rather than the defining challenge of your entire life, is ironically important for you to maintain that sobriety.

Recovery & Sobriety

Recovery from addiction isn’t easy. An estimated ten percent of people who either are struggling or have struggled with addiction consider themselves free from it. However, that must be coupled with the fact that most Americans who consider themselves to struggle with addiction fail to seek treatment for it, for a variety of reasons.

It’s very much possible to recover from an addiction, and anyone can do it if they have a reason to. All it takes is the right approach, and a reason important enough to keep them sober. Some addictions are far harder to beat than others – but all journeys to recovery begin with the will, and a reason. That’s where accountability and responsibility play a part in recreating someone after addiction has run through them.

However, to convince someone of the importance of taking that responsibility, you must convince them that they have the power and the ability to see it through. Confidence, self-esteem, and the security of knowing you can be someone others rely on – these feelings of basic belonging and social significance are central to recovery, because they help you restore yourself into a circle of friends, a family, and society itself. Through a job, through hobbies, and through the passion that you love the most, a proper journey of recovery will teach you exactly how strong you are, and exactly why you never again need to turn towards the empty promises and useless pleasures of addiction.

Sobriety be a state of clarity achieved by realizing that drugs, and addiction, are ultimately meaningless in the face of how beautiful life can be, how great it feels to achieve the goals you’ve always set out to achieve, and how rewarding it is to spend your time and energy on the things that interest you and matter to you, rather than wasting life.

But that’s the thing. While sobriety helps you forge a stronger you, you must find ways to define yourself without the context of addiction – live a conscious, mindful life and maintain your sobriety alongside it.

There’s More to Life

Too many people begin their journey to recovery with the goal of conquering their addiction, and then they never really get past that. They’re too stubborn to relapse, but they don’t see past the early phase of recovery and don’t figure out what it is that would challenge them, make them happy, spurn them on to pursue something with gusto.

Dry drunks, as they’re called, lack that. They’re sober, but they’re still abusive, unhappy, unresolved. They carry a host of issues that need to be addressed, problems they harbor against themselves, against the world, and against life. These problems need to come out and breathe in some much-needed air if they’re ever going to see closure, either through self-help or therapy.

Once you make it past the idea that just being sober is your primary goal, you can begin to live your life again, and make more out of it than it ever was.

Staying Sober

That’s the simple necessary ingredient to staying sober – realizing that life is about finding new goals, rather than dwelling on them. You don’t just tell yourself that you’re going to go to the gym for a month, and then drop it. You set new goals, raise the bar, up the stakes, and figure out new challenges. You improve your performance at work, finish your education or specialize in a new industry, nail a new job, and blast past every obstacle with solutions instead of excuses and problems.

If you let the failure eat away at you, you’ll never actually taste the success, and achieve that blissful happiness everyone loves talking about. Sobriety begins to crumble in the face of doubt and insecurity, fear and worry, and the anxieties of cascading failure. Stay optimistic, stay hungry, and set new goals for yourself until you feel that joy to live again – and if you chase it, with the help of those around you, you’ll never need your old habits and their destructive ways.

12 Steps, Or No Steps?

Posted on June 22, 2017June 23, 2017 by JohnAdmin

When it comes to tackling addiction, the most famous form of group therapy or recovery is the 12 Step program. The 12 Steps is decades old and operates on a foundation of social dependence and faith – you enter the group, give yourself to it, and help them reconstitute and recover after a harrowing experience with addiction.

Many have shared their experiences with 12 Step programs and have raved about their effectiveness, while cautioning others that it may not be their cup of tea. Others have written and reported about how the 12 Steps were useless to them. And yet others have made bold claims over the years, going so far as the declare the 12 Steps the only viable means of recovery in existence.

The truth is that the 12 Steps are one method among many – but the question is if they’re the right method for you.

Delving Into the 12 Steps

The 12 Step program has its origins in the early 30s, specifically with tenets outlined in the 1939 book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovery from Alcoholism. The idea behind the 12 Steps was to create a philosophical and referential backbone to the organization Alcoholics Anonymous, which was founded by two recovered alcoholics who helped themselves stay sober for years.

While it isn’t affiliated with any other groups or a specific religion, God or a higher power plays a vital role in some of these steps, and faith – faith in others, and faith in the divine – is part of the 12 Step journey. This has led the program to come under fire by some who consider it either pseudoscientific or lacking in peer-reviewed evidence.

The 12 Steps themselves can be found anywhere, and particularly outline the importance of community and unity, admitting powerlessness over addiction – which has drawn criticism for its depressive and shame-based wording – explaining that individual recovery is achieved precisely through that harmony between each one who struggles. The process begins as any other does, with the decision to enter recovery.

Rehab or residential treatment isn’t necessarily part of this experience, although some people join a 12 Step program straight out of rehab. For some, residential treatment is necessary due to the nature of withdrawal. In cases of addiction where physical dependence is an issue – a buildup of tolerance and the development of a painful withdrawal – having professional medical help to see you through the initial stage of recovery is essential, especially with cases of alcoholism where withdrawal can be fatal.

From there, the 12 Step program helps you address each part of your addiction as a separate problem – the spiritual, the physical, the emotional and the mental. Achieving a healthy body and a clear mind is essential for a good emotional balance and a steady spiritual understanding, and vice versa.

The Merits of Strategic Recovery

Regardless of whether you personally prefer the 12 Step program to other programs, or if something about it doesn’t work for you or appeal to you, there is a lot to be said towards approaching addiction recovery from a strategic angle, utilizing a specific set of rules and steps to achieve your goals, stay sober, and improve in recovery enough to overcome addiction.

Planning goals in recovery is vital, because you can’t simply stay sober for the sake of staying sober. You need a reason, and you need something to look forward to, replacing addiction with a different kind of stress ball. Scheduling your day tightly to avoid having too much free time is an effective way to ensure that you’re not tempted to relapse, while keeping you busy and maximizing your time effectively. Therefore, sober living homes are such great places to live, as they provide you with a simple environment among other recovering addicts living and fighting their vices through motivation and empowerment.

Sober living also helps you realize the power of giving – helping others to help yourself, while creating a sense of belonging by actively participating in group events, group meetings, and other mandatory appearances.

Rules are also important. Sober living homes have strict rules that help maintain sobriety for those living in them – including strict rules against late-night visitors, and regular drug testing to ensure that all residents stay clean and aren’t hiding a relapse. Self-imposed rules for those struggling with addiction might include working through chapters of CBT workbooks, utilizing at least one affirmation a day, and working either on some type or art, project or exercise.

Creating Your Own Steps

Aside from utilizing basic structure to help improve the chances of you making it through the first months of recovery and creating a solid foundation for sobriety through programs like sober living to prepare you for the struggles of the future, it might also be a clever idea to create your own ten or dozen steps to follow and stay loyal to, to give you a mantra by which to live in this arc of your life.

You may not need faith as a backbone to your recovery, instead relying on steps that relate to gratitude, mindfulness, and actively seeking to mend old broken relationships to seek closure and prove that you’re changing.

You could also use your steps to cement the importance of art, music or physical training and sports in your path to permanent sobriety. Make a promise to prepare and work on a weekly journal, or make a pledge to regularly attend group meetings to connect with others, and never forget that you’re not the only one to struggle and succeed.

Recovery Without Steps

Not everyone needs a written code to live by – and plenty of people have beaten their addiction without the 12 Step program, or any other steps. Instead, they might have relied on group therapy, or one-on-one therapy, self-help tools, or just the sheer accountability they feel towards their family and friends towards getting better and being an important part of the community.

The thing about recovery is that every path is unique. Just like addiction can strike anyone, anyone can recover – but we all must find our own specific path. With or without steps, it’s not up to anyone else to decide that – it’s your own choice, based on what you know about yourself.