To find a provider, try the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine directory. The MBRP curriculum is designed to be presented in weekly 2-hour sessions over eight weeks. The final sessions address self-care, support networks, and life balance. MBRP group participants focus on their moment-by-moment experience, rather than processing their feelings or telling their stories. And they practice being mindful, using a series of guided meditation practices, each day of the week between group meetings. If you have just successfully completed drug treatment, it is an major accomplishment that should fill you with a tremendous amount of pride.

If you have people like this in your life, you need to cut them out. It’s super hard to stay sober if you stay around these people. There are several ways you might deal with this, but it’s clear to most that it needs to be dealt with. Try to find people who lift you up, who are winning at life, who have healthy habits and want to see you thrive.

Create Goals

Once you begin to get used to being sober, the fear that it all might go away grows stronger. That fear, ironically, increases your risk of relapse. Sobriety also gives you the chance to redeem broken bonds and hurt relationships. You can use your regained time to make amends and seek forgiveness or forgive others. For most people, it may seem like relapse sneaks up on them. In truth, however, there are warning signs they can heed before they relapse.

Furthermore, social media is addictive, and you’re an addict. Addiction doesn’t always mean alcohol abuse or using drugs. Having a solid relapse prevention plan is a critical element for staying sober. In addition, the new sober you must identify triggers, recognize warning signs, and acknowledge your sober friends and support network. Decide what you’ll say if someone asks why you’re sober.

Lean on Your Support System

Personally, I think of sobriety in terms of the big picture, and in the context of a life well-lived. Pigging out over a luscious meal with friends once a month is one thing, but over-eating daily is another. Bottom-line, if you can’t do something within appropriate bounds, you can’t do it at all. Most of us – me included – know where we tend to go too far and need to establish a more wholesome balance. And obviously, any behavior that harms others should go to zero. SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

• When things like this happen, find a sober friend or loved one you can talk to for support.
• It is never as bad as we think, and staying stuck in our heads only blows things up out of proportion and leads to worry, anxiety and stress.
• Animal shelters, aquariums, homeless shelters or even AA meetings.
• Picture your past self standing before you, then take your love and compassion and hold it in a ball of light in front of you.

You’re not punishing yourself for not drinking, you’re rewarding yourself, so go out and get a massage to work out some of that tension and feel proud while you’re pampered. Many people drink with the same group of «friends». There’s a variety of meetup groups online and plenty of free events. There’s no shortage of ways to get out and meet some new people with similar interests.

Social

I used to drink to dial down my thoughts and quiet my mind. Drinking was my off switch and the only way I knew how to shush myself up. Of course, when the alcohol wears off, these thoughts just pop right back up usually in the middle of the night. The best advice I can give, which is based on my experience, is that all the thinking in the world does not replace taking action. No matter how small the step, how tiny the action, until you actually do it, you will really never truly know what it is like. I wanted to write about this topic because it has come up quite a lot in our membership sessions lately and I, myself, still spend a lot of time in my head, overthinking.

Learning to enjoy your sobriety is an important step in that journey – but be careful not to “burn yourself out” on life. Remember that life is not just all about experiencing, but it is also important to take time and reflect. Find a pace you are comfortable with, rather than being sober around drinkers racing from one event to the next to keep yourself busy. It acts to further understand what triggers the person’s cravings, and it teaches them how to navigate early recovery without relapsing again. To others, a single relapse can be enough to lose all hope of recovery.