Seven Ways to Stay Sober this Summer
Summer is arguably the best time of the year, an incredible few months where you can soak up the sun, take time off and have fun with your friends and loved ones. These occasions are times for letting loose and enjoying yourself, and therefore drinking alcohol or using other substances are interwoven into the fabric of this season. But you’re sober - how are you going to enjoy yourself while avoiding temptation? Here are seven ways to help you stay sober this summer.
Timing is Everything
You can not will yourself to stay sober, but you can plan ahead to reduce your risk of use. Repeatedly encountering tempting situations, like being offered drinks or going to bars with your non-sober friends, can chip away at your hard earned sobriety and lead to the devil on your shoulder, having an increasingly more persuasive opinion. How can you avoid relapse?
Put a time limit. Decisions made at 8pm and 3am tend to look extremely different so don’t put yourself in the position to have to find out. Tell yourself you, much like Cinderella, are leaving at the stroke of midnight and watch yourself glow with pride the next day as you wake up hangover free.
Circle of Support
Your friends and loved ones are your friends and loved ones for a reason. They love and care about you immensely. So let them love and care about you immensely. By being upfront and honest about your decision to stay sober all summer you can access help and support.
Tell your friends that you’re feeling tempted and need to leave the bar, tell your family that you’re anxious about the barbecue because of the presence of alcohol, tell your romantic partner that you want to go hang out somewhere where you won’t be reminded of your vices. You will be humbled and grateful for the support you receive when you open up about your struggles.
What do you like now?
As many a recovering alcoholic or addict will tell you, getting and staying sober is like discovering a whole new world and that includes flavors. As your body chemistry changes, you’ll be shocked at how your taste buds open up, and you begin to perceive a whole hoard of new nuanced tastes.
This is great news as you can now discover your new favourite non-poisonous poison. Having a go-to drink that you actually enjoy means you will be less tempted by the alcoholic options.
Enjoy the Great Outdoors
It’s summer - get outside! Staying at home while the sun shines gloriously makes no sense at all, and while your number of hangover free days accumulates it makes sense to take advantage of the fresh feeling by hiking, camping, running in your local park or simply taking a mindful walk in the area around where you live.
We’re still animals at the end of the day, and moving your body will help flood your brain with endorphins, reinforcing that being sober is an easy price to pay for how incredible you feel.
Practice Saying NO
It may sound silly, but the difference between a summer of sobriety or relapse could be in your acting skills. As someone who didn’t make a habit of saying no to anything previously, refusing temptation is going to feel extremely unnatural.
Here is where a pen, piece of paper and the mirror are your best friends. You know you better than anyone else so you need to write down ways to say no that are true to you and get practicing! The sayings practice makes perfect, and fake it until you make it, are sayings for a reason – so have faith that the more you say no the easier it will be. You’re worth it!
Foolproof Emergency Exit Plan
Sometimes the only answer is to leave the situation immediately. There is no shame in needing to look after yourself and you should be proud to be able to recognize a danger-zone for what it is and act accordingly.
Stories of these successes are what strengthens both your resolve and that of the sober friends around you. Get mindful and get ahead of the game. Write down what a danger zone looks like, with as much detail as possible, and what you can do to get yourself out of it with your safety and sobriety intact. You got this !
Reap All the Benefits
The last, but certainly not the least, way to stay sober this summer is to look around and take stock of the rich crops you're harvesting from your sober seeds. Relish in how your personal relationships, job prospects and physical and mental health are improving by leaps and bounds. Imagine how good they are going to be in a year’s time, two year’s time, five year’s time? A beautiful, rich, nuanced life is forming around you that you can be proud of - and that’s a miracle.
In short, you CAN stay sober this summer and still have the time of your life - and you WILL do it. Be excited about making yourself proud.
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