5 Alcohol Addiction Recovery Tips that Guarantee Sobriety

Sobriety is more than the achievement of abstinence. It’s a new way to think about things in a more positive perspective with a change in character that elicits self-control over cravings, attitudes, and motivations to stay sober. It is a progress that requires day to day efforts to stay on track and maintain hope, for a while at least, when everything around you seems unbalanced.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “The risk for relapse to alcohol dependence is very high in the first 6 to 12 months after initiating abstinence and gradually diminishes over several years.” There is no way to get to sobriety without going through those hurdles of detox and daily routine changes that will take you out of your comfort zone and into a whole new way of life. The following, are 5 alcohol addiction recovery tips that guarantee sobriety.

1. Humbling Yourself and Accepting Your Addiction to Alcohol

One of the most profound discoveries about alcoholism is that with every attempt to quit drinking, the person is at a greater risk of enhanced anxiety and negative moods with detrimental effects such as seizures during subsequent withdrawals. Commonly referred to as the “kindling process”, a heavy or chronic drinker can stop drinking for months or years and as soon as they take another drink, their cumulative status of alcoholism, from before, returns with a vengeance beyond their imaginations.

The only guarantee to sobriety is abstinence, but every alcoholic should know that they face an uphill battle and so, the first alcohol addiction recovery tip that guarantees sobriety is to humble yourself and accept your addiction. It’s the only way you can move toward sobriety in an effective and meaningful way.

2. Get into an Alcohol Addiction Treatment Program

AA meetings

AA meetings will help you stay sober.

Alcohol addiction treatment programs off a variety of approaches to detox and get well, but, none can guarantee sobriety because sobriety comes one day at a time. Various therapies may include medication assistance, counseling, and behavioral therapies to help people recover by changing their thinking, attitudes, and perceptions in ways to improve their lifestyle as well as stay sober.

While alcohol addiction treatment programs share the same goals of addressing the different aspects of alcohol dependence including the neurobiological, psychological, and social issues unique to each patient, the best options include those programs that combine treatment approaches with long term abstinence and support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.).

3. Change Your Mindset You Don’t Drink Anymore

Alcohol is everywhere in society and a person trying to stay sober is bound to run into the reminders that can “trigger” cravings as if it’s their first day in sobriety. Left to their natural mindset, they could rationalize just one drink to be alright or even feel like they have mastered their alcohol addiction enough that they become complacent.

Although it doesn’t guarantee sobriety, changing your mindset on a day to day basis and telling yourself you don’t drink, anymore, can make these high-risk situations a little less powerful. The best thing to do, however, is learn how to identify possible problems and avoid ever placing yourself in those circumstances to begin with. Find healthy and productive alternatives to occupy your thoughts and stay busy in activities that give you pleasure without drinking. Every successful gain brings you one step further to long-term sobriety behaviors as long you keep up the hard work.

4. Build a Positive Recovery Support System

Support groups provide benefits to alcoholics and their families in natural, sustainable, voluntary, and reciprocal ways. Sharing common experiences and concerns, gaining insight from others who are in recovery, and finding the access to resources to stay motivated is advocated for long term sobriety maintenance. According to the NIDA, “12 step and self-help groups “can be particularly helpful during recovery, offering an added layer of community-level social support to help people achieve and maintain abstinence and other healthy lifestyle behaviors over the course of a lifetime.”

Having the right people behind you as you take on these goals is crucial. Restoring relationships with family can be a powerful motivator to keep a person out of the grips of behaviors associated with alcohol addiction. Involving family and friends that you can trust to encourage you in sobriety and whenever things get bad, help you identify problems, make a plan, and move toward future goals are benefits you cannot afford to go without.

5. Introduce a Higher Power into the Equation

Health, home, community, and purpose are the four dimensions of recovery, according to the SAMHSA, that requires a healthy balance in the person’s values, attitudes, and beliefs. Many people have a tough time accepting spirituality as a reliable basis for their recovery, but, it isn’t so hard to imagine that so much a part of us involves something of a mystery we can’t seem to put a finger on.

Spirituality is not the same as religion. It is deeply personal, unique to each person, and privately experienced as they connect with people, powers, and life outside of themselves. Nothing puts this principle into practice greater to guarantee sobriety than recognizing a higher power to surrender those things that are undesirable, past mistakes, and things that we have no control over in our daily quests for living a meaningful and purpose-driven life.For some, this means relying on a Higher Power or God, to help you make the appropriate choices and changes to find peace and happiness. For others, it may be humanitarian efforts, nature, or other beliefs and values.

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