40 Tips For Staying Sober Under Pressure

Picturing how remaining abstinent will favorably affect the achievement of your future aspirations can act as an influential incentive. Celebrating significant achievements along your journey toward staying sober not only boosts motivation, but also offers affirmative encouragement. Indulging in a wide range of foods can amplify the pleasure experienced during events where drinking is prevalent, enhancing the overall enjoyment. Centering your attention on the culinary delights at gatherings can lead to contentment and maintain your interest. The array of gastronomic options available serves as an enjoyable diversion, steering focus away from alcohol consumption. Fostering meaningful discussions serves as an effective distraction from alcohol during social gatherings.

• That a classmate might be an alcoholic generally isn’t on the minds of the college-aged crowd.
• Long-time pro-drinking friends may tediously bring the issue up every time you go to a bar or party together.
• The recovery process requires support, commitment, and action.
• Imagine your sober streak disappearing and finishing the bottle that night.
• “They order a club soda with lime, and it doesn’t bother them.”
• One of the first things you discover after getting sober is how much time you have.

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Your life will change around you and one day you will look back and be awed at what you did. There are many benefits to having a solid exercise routine when you are fighting alcohol addiction. It is the scientifically proven phenomenon of euphoric feelings that come from running. Staying focused on the reasons why you’ve decided not to drink can get you through difficult moments. “Really think about your payoffs for not drinking,” Cornett says.

• Issues like politics, God, health and personal life choices would get me so angry.
• However, there are strategies to use to navigate the holiday season in sobriety.
• And remember it’s OK to leave social events—you don’t have to stay, be the last one to leave, or the life of the party.

Offer a Helping Hand

Depending on the type of dependency, PAWS can last from six months to two years after you stop using drugs or alcohol. Find someone you can call or text if things get stressful—whether they’re a close friend, sponsor, or peer in recovery. Or if you are invited elsewhere, consider confiding in a relative who isn’t a big drinker and let them know that you might need a sober ally.

What role does self-care play in maintaining sobriety?

Maybe you always downed a six-pack while watching football with the guys, so it’s challenging to get through a Super Bowl party sober. Or you always drank when you smoked socially, so being offered a cigarette at a party might make you crave liquor. Any activity that you’ve closely paired with alcohol in the past may trigger the desire to drink, Willenbring says. Turning down a cigarette, an invitation to a Super Bowl party, or another problem activity can help you avoid high-risk situations. This is one of the reasons, the I Am Sober app focuses on celebrate your milestones, so you see the immediate reward as you build to longer and longer milestones.

Parting thoughts: other tips to stay sober in social situations

If you’re totally not into drinking and that lifestyle, just hang out with a crowd that has other priorities. Have fun in one of the hundred ways other than getting messed up. If your boss or colleagues are drinkers, joining them for dinner after work how to stay sober when everyone else is drinking would most likely mean opening a bottle and having a glass to drink. This situation could potentially prove to be your undoing, especially if a fellow non-drinking colleague succumbs to the pressure and leaves you stranded. Gently remind your boss of your 8 am meeting with a VIP client or the important presentation that you have to make and trump the lot with your admirable, hardworking ethic instead.

• Crafting ready-made answers can assist in politely refusing alcohol and avoiding peer pressure.
• After all, everyone else is drinking and one person staying sober makes the rest look bad.

Join a Support Group

Obviously, you aren’t likely to avoid alcohol all the time. Weddings, shows, and even art galleries usually serve alcohol. And, of course, your friends may want to go to bars, clubs, or other events where alcohol is one of the main attractions.

Your preparations for each type of environment will be completely different. By Buddy TBuddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website.

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The connections you make from these activities will likely be with people passionate about living a healthy lifestyle. Whether you’re sober or not, an essential quality of a good friend is one who encourages and supports you to be healthy. One way to make sober friends is through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. You might search for groups based on sobriety, interests, or location on Facebook and engage with their discussion posts and events.

It also gives you a sense of purpose that can help you stay focused. Acknowledging and commemorating minor milestones in sobriety can serve as a catalyst for maintaining positive habits. Indulging in the purchase of a book, enjoying a day at the spa, or embarking on an exciting new hobby are all effective incentives. By using these phrases, you can confidently handle social circumstances while remaining committed to your personal abstinence journey. Invoking the aid of your support group bolsters accountability and assists in warding off the lure of alcohol at social gatherings. Below are insights on how to develop such a supportive framework.

Staying sober is Substance abuse fun and incredibly rewarding, but these are 40 tips for the times when staying sober is easier said than done. A family member, spouse or partner accompanying you can be invaluable, especially if they don’t drink. Do you need a secret signal to indicate that it’s time to leave?