5 Ways to Maintain Motivation for Sobriety

Sharing your own experiences and how you overcame some of the struggles that they are facing can re-inspire and re-encourage you. Although extrinsic motivators can spark initial action, intrinsic motivation is key for sustaining long-term recovery. Intrinsic motivation is more sustainable than extrinsic motivation, as it comes from within and is not reliant on external factors.

• Now think about how that impacted your relationships with others.
• Focus group results supported the importance of costs and benefits as motivational forces influencing abstinence.
• By following the steps above, you will find yourself staying motivated to maintain a happy, healthy and substance-free life.
• Like many people, when I first started contemplating sobriety, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to connect to other people without the social lubricant of drugs or alcohol.

Next, try to prioritize and select the top two or three goals which are most vital to your overall physical and mental health. If addiction has been an issue, the goal to “maintain sobriety” is a must to include. Next would likely be a goal related to mental health (manage mental illness) and one or more related to physical health (rest, physical activity, medications, healthy diet, etc.).

Staying Sober Requires Commitment

Our center treats dependence on alcohol, benzodiazepines, cocaine, opioids, and methamphetamine. Motivation was an element that could only be brought to the table by someone who is addicted – they had to be motivated to make changes, motivated to seek help, motivated to survive the day-by-day of withdrawal and sobriety. But as we learn more about motivation, we understand that it is far more complex than that, and that there are countless social factors that go into helping someone develop and maintain the motivation to do anything.

Maintaining motivation in sobriety can be difficult, but your worst day sober is infinitely better than your best day drinking or using. DISCLAIMER
The content of this website is provided for informational purposes only. Nothing contained in this site is or should be considered or used as a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you require a drug and alcohol counsellor or clinician experienced in trauma, PTSD, anxiety and other concerns I can refer out. BUT I also get to watch some pretty mind-blowing transformations as my clients find motivation to change their relationship to alcohol or drugs — whether choosing abstinence or moderation — reclaiming their lives.

Sobriety Setbacks

If you spent any time in active addiction, you most likely lost something of importance to you, whether a relationship(s), a home, a job, or yourself. Focus on what it felt like to lose these things and how you can’t undo the damage, but don’t let yourself dwell. Allow what you lost in the past to become motivation for staying sober in the present and future.

One manager described a meeting labeled the “Been There, Done That” meeting. “We have the meetings where you can become of service and help people get to doctors, court appointments, I mean anything”. Another participant pointed out that the resident who developed that meeting received recognition in the household for his efforts, which furthered his commitment to the house as well as his individual recovery. Ways that residents supported one another resulted in a type of substitute family where persons could reside until they were able to begin reestablishing trust with their family. Focus group results supported the importance of costs and benefits as motivational forces influencing abstinence. However, participants also emphasized characteristics of the sober living recovery environment as important factors influencing motivation.

Get Support

It’s OK if a person returns to this step many times on their journey toward sobriety. Sobriety can be a fixed-term goal (i.e., staying sober for Dry January) or a lifelong goal (living a sober lifestyle or staying sober from all substances). The process of change often starts at an addiction treatment facility, such as a residential program for 30 to 90 days, and can offer a good foundation; however, long-term recovery requires a long-term approach. Recovery management offers a chance for an individual to establish their sobriety in the real world with professional support and coaching. One manager described one of his facilities as primarily housing persons with dual diagnoses of psychiatric and substance use disorders. He felt many such residents were able to do well “if you can keep them medication compliant and you can get them introduced into co-occurring disorder groups”.

Above all, the life-saving community we find in recovery gives us the love that everyone needs. When we get some weeks of recovery behind us and the haze starts to clear, we can see what’s wrong with our lives. While this isn’t much fun, it’s the first step to being able to make real changes that will really work. You may also need to change your route to work or home in order to avoid any triggers, or people, places, or things that make you want to use drugs or drink again. Some definitions of sobriety call for complete lifelong abstinence while others focus on developing coping mechanisms that can reduce harm with the understanding that setbacks are common. The information provided on this page is intended to be informative and does not substitute or stand for medical advice.

Find Balance in Your Life

An argument among several men rose in volume from somewhere nearby. The issue in Boulder became further fraught in May, when Ms. Livovich told the A.C.L.U. that she was withdrawing from the lawsuit. On the last Thursday of August, Jennifer Livovich spent the morning simmering beans and cheese sauce in her Boulder, Colo., apartment, preparing nachos. Then friends helped https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/5-tips-of-how-to-maintain-recovery-motivation/ her load a truck with the food, along with donations she had secured — socks, toothbrushes, cellphones — to distribute at a downtown park where dozens of chronically homeless people congregate. He is closing out his Periphery Tour in Milwaukee on Saturday, December 9th. Before that, he will get behind the decks at New York City’s Webster Hall on Friday, December 8th.

Even if you have failed previously, relapsed, or are in a difficult crisis, we stand ready to support you. Our trusted behavioral health specialists will not give up on you. Call us when you feel ready or want someone to speak to about therapy alternatives to change your life. Even if we cannot assist you, we will lead you wherever you can get support. People develop serenity by constantly facing the challenges that come their way.

Remember that it’s always a good time to build healthier habits:

Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) involves experiencing withdrawal symptoms that persist past the detox period. Such symptoms are often related to mood and may include irritability, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and fatigue. Lauren Smith has worked as a journalist and copywriter for the last decade, covering a range of topics including health, energy, and technology in the US and UK. To overcome addiction, you need to decide it internally, casting aside your previous denials and excuses and abandoning your old patterns of thinking and ways of life. Beating addiction also requires you to have the strength to ask for help when you can’t do it alone. The CIWA Assessment scale is a validated assessment tool comprising 10 items, used to measure the intensity of an individual’s symptoms during alcohol withdrawal.

• But you can escape and build a different life, no matter how many times you stumble.
• She said there were not enough treatment options and she couldn’t find help.
• Some detentions “saved my life,” she said, because she stopped drinking for a few days.
• You may find several inspirational quotes or helpful mantras that will carry you through the difficult times.
• 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.

A relapse can actually act as a guide to help reignite your motivation toward creating a lasting practice of recovery. Explore our guide to dating someone in recovery, offering insights, tips, and support for https://ecosoberhouse.com/ a healthy and fulfilling partnership. There are inevitable risks and consequences of mixing gabapentin and alcohol. Learn why combining these substances can be dangerous and how it may impact your health.