Check with your health insurance provider, ask friends for referrals, or browse therapy directories like Psychology Today and GoodTherapy. It’s understandable if you don’t want to share this part of your life with friends or family. No matter what your sobriety journey looks like, a supportive community can be crucial to sticking with it. It can help to have a trusted confidant or two with whom you can share your struggles, successes, and revelations. According to addiction specialists and Alcoholics Anonymous’ Big Book, up to 75% of members stay abstinent or remain sober after relapses. By focusing on a balanced diet, you can improve your mood, increase your energy levels, and reduce stress, all of which contribute to a successful recovery.
These groups focus less on the spiritual aspect of recovery and more heavily on an individual’s ability to find recovery within themselves. Experts recommend that people participate in at least thirty minutes of moderate exercise every day. There are many amazing websites, groups, chat rooms, and many other places on the internet that can help with your sobriety and recovery. There are bloggers, videos, and podcasts designed to give people hope.
- You can look for alternative groups with perspectives closer to your own.
- Additionally, it can help lower the risk of overdose in opioid users.
- It has given me the tools that will keep me sober and improve my life.
- A primary reason 12-step works for so many people (in my opinion) is it sets you up with a new social scene, full of folks just like yourself.
Do specific religious beliefs or practices play a role in addiction recovery?
Many people who have AUD don’t want to abstain from drinking entirely and instead seek treatments that reduce drinking. And others have the goal to quit drinking, but don’t find other aspects of AA to align with their values. Take action to care for yourself, rely on a support system, seek help from therapy, distance yourself from difficult situations, and use exercise and healthy eating to stay sober when you don’t want to. Adopting new habits and activities that promote physical and mental well-being is essential for reducing the risk of relapse. By focusing on exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness, you can improve your overall health, increase your resilience, and boost your chances of maintaining sobriety. Sober Grid is a social networking app that connects individuals in recovery, providing a supportive community for staying sober.
Staying Sober Without AA
If you have struggled with alcoholism and are hoping to achieve sobriety for good, there are many ways to do it without attending AA. The best way forward for your recovery from alcohol or substance use is to incorporate a wide variety of strategies that will help foster success. Remember to care for yourself, seek supportive relationships, and consider seeking help from a therapist. Finally, if you find all of these options too time consuming, expensive, or fussy, you can always go it alone. This can be a lot more difficult—and even dangerous if you have a severe enough addiction.
Either way, if you find yourself avoiding AA because you don’t want to quit drinking sober house completely, this is a good solution to look into—and there are many ways to access it. Once you are past the initial detox phase, rehabilitation programs (or rehab) are one way to go. Residential treatment can last days, and gives you a chance for a full reset.
The Importance of Transparency During the Rehab Process
Without the constraints of a specific program, you have the freedom to explore different treatment options and find what works best for you. You don’t need to go through an organization or any other formal channels to find this type of community. It can be as simple as your existing friend group who checks in on each other through text, or commiserating with online strangers on a sobriety memes account on social media. All that matters is that it’s a group of individuals you feel comfortable enough sharing your struggles with and can relate to. Kali Lux is a consumer marketing leader with a focus on healthcare and wellness.
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The personalized approach of professional help ensures that you receive tailored assistance. When learning how to stop drinking, seeking professional help and support is of paramount importance. The guidance of a licensed therapist, counselor, or addiction specialist can be invaluable. They’ll provide you with the necessary tools and strategies to navigate the challenges of recovery. Self-help techniques for staying sober without AA include mindfulness practices, exercise, healthy eating, journaling, and finding new hobbies.
Resources
Fortunately, if AA doesn’t work for you, there are other choices. Different support groups exist to help you quit drinking without AA, some with a more secular approach. Professional counseling https://yourhealthmagazine.net/article/addiction/sober-houses-rules-that-you-should-follow/ can be an effective treatment method for individuals with substance use disorder. Counseling can help individuals identify and manage triggers that may lead to substance use. Additionally, counseling can help individuals develop healthy coping mechanisms and improve their overall mental health.
Practice deep breathing exercises, mindfulness techniques, or the habit of journaling to express your feelings and thoughts. It’s important to surround yourself with positive influences and seek help when needed. Therapy can be effective in helping individuals stay sober without AA. It can provide a safe space to explore underlying issues that may contribute to addiction and develop coping strategies. There are several alternative programs to AA for staying sober, such as SMART Recovery, Refuge Recovery, and Women for Sobriety. These programs offer a different approach to Sobriety and may be more suitable for some individuals.
It can also assist individuals in cultivating coping strategies, recognizing their behavior, and building a reliable support system with a support group committed to their well-being. Women also take responsibility for their own actions, understanding that each person is in control of their own happiness, and each woman is worthwhile and competent. WFS uses 13 acceptance statements to support its “New Life” Program that asks members to focus their energies on positivity over negativity.
- Inpatient rehab programs can provide individuals with a supportive environment that can help them maintain Sobriety.
- Today, my life is full of people whose lives don’t revolve around consuming booze.
- By becoming well-informed about the risks involved, you’ll reinforce your commitment to quit drinking.
- This article discusses the meaning of sobriety and arms you with information and strategies to smooth—and stay on—your path to wellness.
Similarly, if you’d like to be sober but aren’t sure if you can do it 100%, you are already on the right path. Write your blog posts, eat your cake, and put yourself on the pedestal for a while. The people who cannot understand your moments of pride in sobriety aren’t the ones you need around you anyways.
For many years, the accepted options were to send folks to 30-day inpatient treatment or told them to go to AA. But there are other options, and as a society, we’re beginning to accept that those other options work. To sum up, incorporating these self-help strategies alongside professional guidance enhances chances of successful rehabilitation from addiction. They provide practical tools that foster resilience against relapses while promoting overall well-being beyond just abstinence from alcohol consumption. Their program teaches skills that can help you stay motivated in your sobriety and cope with cravings.
One of the most popular forms of alcohol addiction management and recovery support is Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a 12-Step program. AA is a peer recovery and self-help program that is spiritual in nature and calls on its members to turn their lives over to a higher power. This concept of spirituality in healing may not work for everyone. AA also expects its members to remain abstinent from alcohol and drugs completely, and this is also a concept that is not ideal for every person. You may also experience what is commonly called sobriety fatigue, which refers to the overall exhaustion that may occur as a result of the emotional and physical stress of staying sober. So, it’s extra helpful to have a support network available to you when you need it.
Furthermore, regular exercise can help to reduce cravings for alcohol which are often driven by stress or negative emotions, thus improving mental health. The article provides tips on dealing with relapses in the journey towards sobriety, including recognizing potential triggers and developing strategies to manage them. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining an optimistic outlook, reaching out to support networks, prioritizing self-care, and continually refining strategies based on previous experiences. You can quit drinking without Alcoholics Anonymous by understanding your addiction and ignoring your cravings. When you first get sober, set your intention and make a clear plan so you know exactly what you’re doing.
She said, “If this is what getting sober is like, I’ll just keep drinking.” Thankfully, 15 years later, she found another way and is thriving in recovery. Yes, we can share in their joy and be proud of their path, but remember that there is no only way to do this. Every single path to recovery, even those that require the assistance of others, is deeply personal.