How to Stay Sober - Asheville, NC | Crest View Recovery Center

After rehab, expect good days and bad days, which are usual in everyone’s life. It will be how you handle those stressful times that determine if your sobriety lasts. Rehab treatment can teach you how to stay sober, but it’s up to you to put those lessons into practice. Thankfully, there are methods to help you through this time. Learn more about the methods and tips people use to maintain their sobriety.

Tips on How to Stay Sober

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know how not to drink or use, particularly in certain settings. After all, sober living could be very new to you if your addiction issues went on for a long time. You were used to drinking heavily at parties or using when friends encouraged you to join in.

But, just as drug and alcohol abuse were bad habits, you can learn new ones. Engraining new, healthy habits also help to make avoiding a relapse simpler.

Having accountability and support goes a long way toward encouraging your efforts to abstain from drugs and alcohol. People who do not have a support system set up outside of treatment will find it much harder to stay sober. For this reason, long term support groups can be found all across the United States. Here are some of the most effective ways of helping you stay sober.

Peer Support Groups

The first line of defense for most people in recovery is a peer support group like Alcoholics Anonymous. Attending meetings gives you a safe, judgment-free space to express your difficulties and challenges. The act of talking about how you struggle can often prove cathartic. It also allows others who understand that particular challenge to offer their support.

Your peers in the group can also provide practical strategies for staying sober in the face of easily accessible and abundant alcohol. Participating in AA can also offer you a sponsor that will provide support whenever you need it, regardless of when you reach out.

Private Therapist

Peer support can help you with the everyday challenges that go with recovery. Of course, substance abuse disorder often finds its roots in underlying issues that require professional help. For example, you may struggle with managing stress because you never learned healthy coping techniques. A problem like that can affect interpersonal relationships and job performance.

Seeing a private therapist regularly can help you work through and resolve those underlying issues. A therapist experienced with addiction can also give you refreshers on tactics for staying sober.

Learn the Common Relapse Triggers

Despite a strong desire to stay clean and sober, people still relapse at times. Although they have learned about their underlying issues and know which coping mechanisms they should use, they may still succumb to common relapse triggers.

Stress, anger, sadness, fatigue, and loneliness are some of them. Other triggers are outside influences, like toxic people in your life or familiar sights, such as passing by your favorite bar

One of the key tips on knowing how to stay sober is having a relapse prevention plan in place. This allows you to be proactive when faced with a person, place or feeling that puts your sobriety at risk.

Read About Staying Sober

There is a vast body of literature out there about addiction and staying sober. AA groups often provide book and pamphlets that cover useful tips or strategies. You can look for additional resources online or through your local library.

If you’re not sure where to start, ask around at a meeting. Others in recovery can often recommend books that they found helpful. If you see a private therapist, you can also ask him or her for recommendations. Most therapists who focus on addiction know most of the best books on the subject.

Utilize Therapy for Staying Sober

If you do start drinking again and want to stop, sometimes the straightest path back to sobriety is another stay in rehab. Granted, taking a month out of your life can feel like a huge sacrifice. It’s a small price compared with a lifetime of drinking, though.

You’ll need another pass through detox to purge the alcohol and toxins from your system. Then, you move over to rehab proper. If you attend the same rehab program you visited before, and then you know what treatments are on the agenda. If you attend a different program, you’ll likely see many of the same therapies, such as:

You may even see some holistic therapies, such as yoga or nutrition therapy. Another stay in rehab lets you refocus your mind on sobriety. It also enables you to dig deep into approaches that will help you avoid relapse in the future.

Additional Tips on How to Stay Sober

Avoiding old friends and hangouts that remind you of using
Attending support group meetings regularly
Surrounding yourself with people who support your sobriety
Exercising and eating healthy so that you feel good about yourself
Continuing therapy as long as needed

Getting Sober in Asheville, North Carolina

Crest View Recovery Center is an addiction treatment facility nestled in the Asheville, North Carolina mountains. We provide a range of evidence-based clinical treatment as well as holistic therapies like yoga, meditation, and recreational therapy. This comprehensive approach is designed to help our clients learn how to stay sober. We also offer the ongoing support necessary to maintain sobriety down the road.

The addiction therapy services we offer include:

No matter where you are in your struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, overcoming it is possible. Our caring and dedicated team will help you achieve sobriety and give you the tools you need to maintain it. Call us today at 866-327-2505 to learn more.

Learn How to Stay Sober