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You will have more joy in experiencing a day rather than sleeping through it. When the demon has you in its grip, you have no life. Your body and mind will feel awake and alive once again.
Family and friends supportive of recovery can help by reinforcing new behaviors and providing positive incentives to continue with treatment. If you’re involved in a 12-step program, you likely already know the importance of milestones. In these programs, it’s customary to receive plastic chips as you progress to the one-year mark, at which time you receive a bronze coin. Shame is having negative beliefs about yourself and your self-worth.
Identify Your Personal Triggers
If you don’t know the person well, simply saying you have to get up early the next morning or you quit for health reasons should be enough. It’s common to use substances as a way to cope with stress and mental health issues. https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/what-reasons-for-you-to-stay-sober/ If you’re struggling with the idea of relapse, it’s probably a sign that it’s time to reach out for help. Call a friend or family member to talk through what you’re going through, or reach out to your doctor or therapist.
- With that being said, I personally have seen and know lots of people who used their recovery as a catalyst to start taking their health and nutrition more seriously.
- The great news is that by enduring and eventually embracing the process, you will also have a life.
- If you are continually doing things that are self-indulgent or hurtful to those you love, they have no choice but to turn away from you.2.
Have some sober friends you can invite as your plus-one to a social event like a party or wedding. And stay in touch with your sponsor and call them if you’re feeling anxious or uncomfortable. This may mean that you don’t spend time with someone you used to use drugs with or go somewhere you used to drink. You might take a new way home from work, for example, to keep from going past your favorite old hangout. Getting sober isn’t boring, it requires thought and dedication instead of impulsive autopilot behavior. Don’t let your brain fool you into thinking you can’t become sober or that it’s not worth your time.
Reasons to Stay Sober: #5 Your Physical Health
Can you sincerely say that you’re actively attempting to make the world a better place? Addiction is a selfish disease, one that disallows you from thinking of anyone else’s needs. Getting sober will allow you to help others in ways you may never have deemed possible. Recovery allows you to get to know the real you and learn to love that person. Get cost-effective, quality addiction care that truly works.
Your intentions may be good, but it takes more than willpower to avoid having a relapse. When you’re focusing all of your time and energy on your addiction, you don’t have time to meet new people and build rewarding relationships. Staying sober will help you better appreciate all of the wonderful people that surround you. If so, you must stay sober so that you can be a positive role model to them. If you don’t have kids—what happens when you DO have kids one day? Stay sober so that you can remain positive and be a role model to others.
Reasons to Stay Sober: #2 Your Mental Health
If this sounds like you, you might be surprised to find out how much more effectively you can deal with things sober. It might feel like drinking or using drugs makes your problems go away, but as anyone who’s struggled with addiction knows, this is just an illusion. When you commit to sobriety, you can actually solve your problems instead of ignoring them.
- All of these things work hand in hand with sobriety to help boost your self-worth and self-love.
- These days I like to think I have it a little more figured out, although I know there is a lot more room for growth.
- And I wouldn’t have it if I bought that poisonous shit back into my world.
Self-love means taking care of yourself and staying dedicated to your recovery. It involves going to meetings, working the steps and helping those newer than you. Self-love is learning to say “no” when appropriate so that you don’t create new wreckage and resentments. All of these things work hand in hand with sobriety to help boost your self-worth and self-love.
You’re more productive.
Over time, all those days and small victories add up to a life full of joy and contentedness. Over time, and with hard work on myself, I have become much more comfortable in the present moment. I am not especially cursed with the hardships that life throws at me. The only comfort comes from removing yourself from reality.
Sometimes, it feels easier to accept the consequences than it does to quit or ask for help. All of the above drug-related school and work issues can lead to smaller paychecks than non-users. For example, the National Bureau of Economic Research has shown that people who invest more in their education also make more money. Drug users are also two and half times more likely than non-users to have absences of eight or more days, which can result in a loss of over a quarter months earnings for each instance.
I have my family, I have my health, I have my dream girl, I have my dog who has been with me through all of this and still wags his tail when I walk in the door. No matter how much I disagree with someone, I am able to stay open minded and put myself in their shoes. I have learned, through time and through self analysis, that the world is gray. Very rarely are there black and white answers to things.
Getting sober gives you the chance to follow your dreams – staying sober gives you more opportunity to reach them. Maybe you have dream job you’d like to land, or plans to go back to school. These dreams are reasons to stay sober and to keep working towards a better and more accomplished you.
When you are sober, you are less likely to experience suicidal thoughts or get behind the wheel while intoxicated. You are less likely to get angry and violent, or involved with a sketchy drug deal. You are also farther from self-medicating, overdosing, or putting the ones you love at risk. Drug abuse is detrimental, bearing many physical, psychological, personal and external consequences. We see this, and yet, many of us continue to use anyway.