How to Protect Your Sobriety in Early Recovery

The Best Steps to Take in Early Recovery to Protect Your Sobriety

There’s only one goal in early recovery: Stay sober. While recovery should be taken one day at a time, the more days you get, the stronger you’ll be in the long run.

Although relapse is always a risk, there are things you can do in early recovery to protect your sobriety. A lot of it has to do with planning ahead of time and making sobriety your priority. You don’t want to beat yourself up over the past and how you ended up in rehab, but you still want to keep it in mind.

This technique is called “playing the reel through” — whenever you feel like picking up a drink or a drug, you remember exactly where you ended up the last time you made that decision. You might also hear it called “watching the movie until the end,” or working backwards. Think of the end result if you give in and drink, then choose accordingly. While a drink may seem tempting, a hard look at the aftereffects may be enough to steer you from temptation.

Information is your best friend when starting your new sober life. We’ve put together some tips on how to stay sober and stay the course on your journey.

Early Recovery Requires Focus and Dedication

Your recovery needs to be your number one priority, especially just after you’ve completed treatment. It’s essential that you spend time on your recovery each day in a way that works for you. When you’re aiming to stay sober, tips can include:

Planning for your recovery has to start while you’re in treatment. A large part of treatment is identifying what caused your addiction in the first place. Once you’ve taken that step, develop coping mechanisms to work around those triggers, so even the pitfalls won’t get the best of you.

What You Can Do for Solid Sobriety

There are a few things you should do to keep your sobriety intact. Recovery is a very individual experience, and just like addiction, it’s strongest when it’s adapted to your personal life. It’s important to identify what will work best for you. Here are some tried-and-true ways to protect your sobriety and live a healthy and successful life:

• Have a plan. Start planning for your long-term recovery as soon as you can. While in rehab, you’ll spend a lot of time in therapy determining the causes of your addiction. Work with your therapist to identify these aspects of your life and make a plan for how to approach it differently. For all the instances you used to reach for drugs or a drink, there’s an alternative way to cope. Have those coping skills ready to use.
• Use all your resources while in treatment. During treatment, it’s easy for clients to fall behind. Some of them skip group sessions, while others simply don’t take it seriously. You’re in rehab to work on yourself in great detail, so make the most of it. The various groups you attend in treatment are all meant to help you learn more about yourself and addiction and to help you alter your life for the better. Soak it up and absorb all you can from the professionals while you’re there.
• Keep mood disorders in check. Mental disorders like anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder affect more than half of people who deal with drug and alcohol addiction. Identifying these and treating them is an essential part of addiction treatment. People with mood disorders often turn to drugs and alcohol as a way to self-medicate. They don’t know that with the right treatment, they can alleviate these symptoms and feel even less of a need to get drunk or high.
• Identify triggers. Knowing the who, what and when of what caused you to drink or do drugs in the past is a huge part of preventing relapse in the future. Once you understand what these things are, avoid them as much as you can. This may require cutting ties with people who were once close to you or picking up and moving to a new place, but it’s worth doing, and part of making a fresh start after rehab.
• Don’t quit rehab cold turkey. Having an aftercare plan for treatment is a great way to solidify your sobriety. Going back into the real world after treatment can be a shock, and professionals recommend doing so gradually to help you make a smooth adjustment. There are plenty of options available for less intensive addiction treatment when it comes to how to stay sober. Begin planning your long-term care while in treatment.
• Treat yourself well. In treatment and recovery, it’s all about you. Do things that benefit you, and focus on being your best self. It’s okay to be selfish — the best thing you can do for your well-being is stay sober. After that, everything else will fall into place, including jobs, relationships and other life goals. By working on being your best self, and understanding that that can vary from day to day, other aspects of your life will improve. You may even be able to repair relationships that were strained or broken due to alcohol and/or drug addiction.
• Celebrate your accomplishments. It’s important to recognize how far you’ve come from your addiction days. Take pride in your accomplishments, no matter how small they seem. Acknowledge the bigger things like getting a new job, your own car or a new apartment. Don’t overlook the importance of small wins. Every positive moment you have in sobriety is worth acknowledging.

We’re Here to Help in Early Recovery

There’s no shame in asking for help, even if you don’t feel like you deserve it. Whether you’re looking for tips to stay sober or want guidance from health care professionals, FHE Health is here for you. Call us or reach out online to connect with one of our knowledgeable, caring team. We’re here to support you through every leg of your recovery journey.