14 Reasons Being Sober Makes Your Life Better

For many people with a substance use disorder, it’s simply a matter of never having learned the appropriate way to manage anger. Life is full of challenges – no matter where you were born or where you’re headed, there will always be highs and lows that add up to the person you are today. The road to recovery can be long and challenging, especially without the right support systems put in place. Thankfully, there are hundreds of organizations in the United States designed to help those struggling with addiction. Nobody’s going to deny that addiction is expensive. That means that one of the best things you can enjoy after getting sober is more money.

Living sober means waking up with less regrets or worries about what you did the night before. It means making decisions that will improve your life and benefit your mental, emotional, and physical health.

Have you ever woken up unable to remember what happened the night before? Even if you don’t tend to black out under the influence, alcohol and drugs can make your memory foggy and unreliable. When you’re sober, you’ll feel sharper and more alert, and you’ll remember things better. If you or a loved one are struggling with mental health or substance abuse, we can help. Because you’ve put a lot of time and hard work into your recovery.

We’re the ones who pass out on a ratty towel and stay that way for the next six hours, until we wake up hungover and with sun poisoning. Sober life offers you a chance to focus on fulfilling and meaningful pursuits. One sober day will lead to a sober week, then months https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and years. You might not feel ready to go back home right after treatment and need a place to transition. Staying sober for the long term is easier when you think of everything day by day. Any of these conditions suggests it would make sense to stop drinking.

How Can Jobs, Housing, And Friends Aid Remission?

Many treatment centers encourage you to find a support group that will work for you. You can explore your options for a support group while in addiction treatment.

If you decide to throw away your sobriety, it may make them think twice about their own. Instead of giving up and giving in, think about the people who may admire you and how your choices could appear to them. Doing so has a way of shifting your mindset and making you realize your sobriety is about more than just yourself. For some of us, present company included, alcohol and drugs are not on our list of navigation tools to help us make it to the other side. You finally get a chance to sit still and relax. Many people who misuse alcohol or drugs have trouble dealing with anger. If left unchecked, anger can have a negative impact on your health and your lasting sobriety.

• These failure rates would suggest that staying sober is anything but easy, but this is not the case.
• And having that extra cash opens up a whole world of new opportunities – you could decide to save for a house, take a vacation, or go back to school, for example.
• Having an addiction can really set a person back in their pursuit of a promotion, an interview, or a big corporate deal.
• Some of the immediate changes you will need to make will be obvious—like not hanging around the people that you used with or obtained drugs from.
• This is because you’re no longer attacking your body by putting dangerous amounts of toxic substances in it.

You have fewer cravings, and you’re not surrounded by temptations like bar food. They may not have outwardly told you, but more than likely, someone you know admires you for your choice to live sober. You are an inspiration, and will continue to be so long as you commit to sobriety.

It is probably because you have developed a diagnosable substance use disorder — one that will need to be professionally addressed in a designated addiction treatment center. If you are new to this whole sobriety thing and are struggling with the idea of never drinking or drugging again – that’s okay! Coming from a former addict, I totally get it. However, life really does get a thousand times better if you stay sober. Many “normies” have recently made the shift away from social drinking and towards intentional sobriety, and there is good reason for it. Of course, if you have struggled with alcohol abuse in the past you have even more of a reason to get and stay sober. A person addicted to drugs and alcohol has only one thing on his or her mind.

Benefits Of Staying Sober

Some are as personal to addicts as their reasons for using, but others are more universal. Nine of those are listed here if you need some inspiration to get sober or to assist you with a battle against temptation or difficulty.

To help you maintain your sobriety and see the benefits of doing so, we are providing you with a detailed list of reasons why living a sober life is beneficial. Nobody likes to think that they might end up with liver disease or other substance-related health problems.

No 10: Youll Change Your Life

The drugs you’ve been taking, or the drugs you used to take, have changed your brain in ways that make quitting extra hard. As much as you want to stay sober, as sick as you are of feeling sick, and as tired as you are of the temptations around you, long-term sobriety still feels out of reach. You might need to decline invitations to events if you don’t feel comfortable. Sometimes, your friends and family members might think that you can have just one drink. Even if they support your sobriety, they might still not understand how your addiction works. To be sober and happy, you can focus on your mental health, physical wellness, life goals, attend support groups, and find ways to help others. Sober living homes help you remain accountable to your sobriety.

Yet, it leads to really liking yourself because you do participate in active, caring thoughts and acts that lead to better wellness. Depression and anxiety are less likely to be an issue. Many of us, present company included, use or have used alcohol and drugs to treat their underlying mood disorders. Drink…the combinations are myriad, and the results are always the same.

You will learn relapse prevention techniques and begin to develop and hone a range of healthy coping mechanisms. Traditionally, residential rehab is followed by outpatient treatment and a long-term aftercare plan. Regardless, sometimes it’s vital to remember all the good reasons to stay sober, particularly when you feel like your cravings are about to get the best of you. We don’t want that to happen any more than you want that to happen. Keep reading for a quick reminder of all the beautiful reasons you have for staying sober. You get to join a community of sober people, and you don’t have to be alone any longer. Many people have walked the steps that you are contemplating walking.

Addiction Treatment Services

They want nothing more than to see you get the help you need to stay sober. In fact, being sober can make your life more fun and rewarding than it’s ever been before. How do you feel about yourself when you’re drinking or using drugs? Maybe not, especially if your substance use has become a problem. Getting and staying sober can change the way you look at yourself. You won’t have to think about yourself as a person with no self-control or someone who says stupid things when drunk.

Being able to forget about past trauma and daily stressors for a time can cause consumption to increase as tolerance builds up. The last reason to stay sober is, Just because a few rock stars are living to a ripe old age despite their pasts of excessive drug use doesn’t mean most other people will. In fact, long-living individuals who continue to use abuse drugs and alcohol are an exception to the rule. Most people abuse drugs as a way of coping with mental health issues. By going to rehab they learn how to confront the root causes of addiction in treatment. This can be anything from depression or anxiety to trauma and PTSD.

Time

A mental health professional can help you cope with some of the challenges you’ll face on your path to sobriety. To avoid relapse and remain sober, it’s important to develop healthy relationships. There are a variety of tools available that can support your path to sobriety. Research suggests that while 12-step groups are effective, people often don’t continue their involvement at beneficial levels over the long term. Other definitions, however, often focus on the process of recovery and developing coping mechanisms and habits that support health and wellness over the long term. Total abstinence may be the goal, but the reality is that setbacks are common.

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.

• Finally, accept that some relationships are irreparable.
• Have an open mind, but for a few of us in recovery, this does work.
• They misrepresent or oversimplify aspects of the program, and then shoot them down.
• In sober living, you will be in a community of like-minded sober friends committed to helping each other.
• Regardless of a good or bad day, check in with your mind and body, how hard the day was, what some triggers you noticed were, and how you avoided them or lessened them.

After all, you can’t hang around your drug dealer or old drinking buddies and expect to remain sober for very long. Sobriety means not being under the influence of a substance. However, the word is often used in different ways in different contexts.

Stay Hydrated

Not everyone has a problem with alcohol and drugs, but those who do aren’t weak — they’re sick. Addiction and alcoholism are diseases, and those who suffer don’t even realize they’re sick until their lives begin to fall apart.

Instead, be intentional in keeping your circle filled with strong, loving people who will encourage and reasons to stay sober bring out the best in you. Why, then, let it get so bad that it does more than just ruin your summer?

No matter what walk of life you hail from, no matter how broken you are, know that there is an island of lost toys waiting for you. Naltrexone is proven to reduce the number of drinks you consume by reducing cravings for alcohol and some drugs. It works by blocking the high you feel when you drink (this part is proven in double-blind studies). So, if you want to stop drinking or even if you want to try to cut down, see your Primary Care Provider. The medications can be given in pill, injection, and implant formulation. They can last upwards of three months, for those of you who need that little bit extra. By staying healthy, having new experiences, building relationships, and helping others, you will begin to truly love yourself.

If you’re struggling and considering allowing yourself to use, call your AA sponsor, a friend, a family member, or an addiction hotline. Staying sober also means you’re taking care of your health. While using, you’re more likely to make bad choices that can lead to accidents and injuries. Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. It depends on what substance you are recovering from, how long you’ve been using it, and how much you used. Sobriety fatigue can last a few weeks to a few months.