Top 5 Sobriety Tips as a New Year’s Resolution

Are you ready to live a life of sobriety? The difference between getting clean and remaining sober is that sobriety is a whole new way of living while getting clean is the act of getting off drugs and/or alcohol. A new way of life requires many changes along the way. A New Year’s resolution is the perfect reason to refocus 2018 on getting clean and remaining sober.

So, waste no time, follow these top 5 sobriety tips as a New Year’s resolution right away:

This sobriety tip is perhaps the most crucial, even if not your New Year’s resolution, pay attention to the importance of practicing self-love. In 2018, we must break harmful routines and replace them with new healthy ones in order to live a life of sobriety.

The basic problem behind alcoholism and drug abuse is that many aren’t finding happiness and fulfillment naturally. One small thought, feeling, or action in the direct result of self-love and can set off a chain reaction of better self-care. Recovery from addiction is huge feat but possible with small, attainable goals. Making and keeping A New Year’s Resolution is the perfect place to start.

Not taking care of yourself sends the message, “I am unworthy and unlovable.” Shame and guilt start to eat at your core in the false belief that there is essentially something wrong with you, and behaviors that threaten your sobriety begin to surface.

Shut off negative thinking and start believing you can do anything you set your mind to, because you can. We must be positive in sobriety and say to ourselves, “we can beat this addiction.” You also must agree that you will never be able to pick up another drink, as it will send you right back to the starting line again.

Anyone in AA or NA knows that if you ask others in the fellowship to hold you accountable to your attendance and step work, they will. A successful 12-Step program helps open you to a spiritual source of strength. Without this source of strength, there is no way to manage the pain without the addictions.

If you are new to sobriety, when attending your first 12 step group, you can expect to be greeted by one or two people upon arrival. Tell these people your goal to stay involved.

This common New Year’s resolution also aligns with the general goal of keeping your body healthy. Taking steps to assure your body functioning at optimum levels improves all aspects of life. “Among patients in treatment programs for drug abuse and addiction (also known as substance use disorder, or SUD), as many as 97% also use tobacco” — drugabuse.com.

A great way to begin the quitting smoking journey is to write down the promise you are making to yourself and tell others.

Those who have attempted it before know quitting smoking is not easy, but it is not impossible either, and if you succeed, you save lots of money, you don’t smell of cigarette smoke all the time, you lose excess weight, you look better, and you live longer.

A sobriety tip for quitting smoking is chewing Nicotine-based gum. Even some herbal tablets have been created and are proven to be equally helpful. These herbal tablets are said to be nicotine free and contain ingredients like cinnamon, cardamoms, ginger, and clove, and are absolutely safe.

Begin your cigarette-free journey right away and surely you will see the benefits in your environment and self.

Whatever spirituality means to you, discover or rediscover what it is that gives you strength through hard times and urges to use. Revisiting a spiritual place that makes you feel connected helps sobriety beyond belief.
Meditation, yoga, and 12-step meetings are great way to stay spiritual and open and full of love. This means shifting from your wounded self/ego/mind to your loving spiritual guidance having the rational say in your sobriety.

Make a regularly followed schedule of spiritual practice in order to solidify sobriety. Do research and decide which activities are best for you. Accessing personal spiritual guidance fills us with the unconditional love. Such an act can avoid you turning to addictions to fill the emptiness and loneliness and take away the pain.

If you think you are on the verge of relapse, say something! Also, offer the same to others trying to achieve sobriety as well. Reaching out for help is often a life or death matter.

A good sobriety tip is after you get up the courage to try out a new place or a new person who can help you attain assistance from drug use, make sure to congratulate yourself for facing a big fear. It is a common fear among people seeking out help to be terrified about what others are going to “think” about them. Surprisingly, however, newcomers to the world of self-help discover that these others have already seen hundreds of people like you before.

A New Year’s Resolution challenges you to be outside your comfort zone in order to achieve change and have new and deep experiences. Have a clean and sober life again, with nothing in the way to stop you.

Design a New Year’s resolution aligned with your strategy for staying clean, and even more importantly maintaining sobriety. Accepting sobriety now changes your life forever. In The New Year, start a fresh, not only for yourself, but everyone else involved.

Feel free to utilize the Hawaii Island Recovery blog and website for tips on sobriety. If you need help or someone to talk to, call us at 877-721-3556.

We are here to help you plan, achieve, and live life sober. Sobriety is a wonderful gift, as is life, and together in 2018, we can help each other live and thrive if we make it our goal.