By LYLE R. FRIED, CAP, ICADC, CHC In Addiction Recovery, Nutrition and Mental Health, Relapse Prevention
Posted October 16, 2017
Once you’ve achieved sobriety, staying sober is a lifetime process. Because this journey is a long one, many recovering addicts and alcoholics struggle to continue finding motivation to stay sober.
Even when sober life is much more fulfilling and enjoyable than life was before, people can begin to take this for granted, and motivation may decrease.
If you’re feeling unmotivated, follow these tips to find the strength to continue on your journey.
Reward Your Progress
According to Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy, the biggest mistake people make in setting their goals is focusing only on the outcome and not on the process.
“A lot of research is showing us that we do much better when we focus on incremental change, on little bits of improvement,” Cuddy says.
Don’t feel discouraged by viewing your goal as something massive and distant, like a lifetime of sobriety. Take it one day at a time, and give yourself rewards for your progress. Reward yourself when you’ve been sober for a week, then a month, then six months. Go get a massage, treat yourself to a favorite dessert, or see a movie.
Rewarding your progress and embracing the process will help you maintain motivation.
Take Care of Yourself
If you take care of your mental and physical health, you’ll feel great. This will give you the motivation to stay sober and continue leading a healthy lifestyle.
Try exercising for about 30 minutes a day, sleeping for 7-9 hours at night, staying hydrated, and eating a balanced diet. You can also surround yourself with positive and supportive people and find outlets like yoga, jogging, or meditation to reduce stress.
Spend Time with Inspirational People
It’s vital for you to surround yourself with positive people who will encourage and support you throughout the recovery process.
When it comes to maintaining your motivation, it’s also good to find people who inspire you. Are there people in your life who have overcome hardships, perhaps even with stories similar to yours?
You can turn to these people as sources of inspiration and motivation when you feel like giving up.
Keep a Journal
A journal is an excellent way to stay motivated during recovery because it allows you to reflect on the process and record your progress. It also provides a healthy outlet for your emotions.
Plus, when you feel yourself losing motivation, you can read back on earlier journal entries. These entries will reenergize you and help you find the drive to keep going.
Find Motivational Recovery Quotes
For many people, it’s helpful to find motivational addiction quotes or recovery quotes to provide inspiration. You can post quotes that resonate with you on your mirror or around your home, or keep a few of your favorite quotes in your wallet.
Bible verses work for many people as well. Either way, you can look at these words of strength and inspiration when you need a little extra motivation.
Download Motivational Apps
For some quick, mobile motivation, you can also download apps designed for this exact purpose. These include recovery apps and AA apps.
Depending on which app you download, you can get features like a sobriety calculator, progress trackers, morning prayers, inspirational quotes, recovery meeting directories, and more. Some recovery apps even show you the time and money you’ve saved being sober.
Remember Why You Chose Sobriety
When you feel tempted to give up, remember why you chose sobriety in the first place. Maybe your motivation was your spouse, children, parents, finances, friendships, career, health, or a combination of these.
Think about everything you lost as a result of your addiction and all the ways sobriety is improving and will continue to improve your life.
Summary
Finding motivation to stay sober will be an ongoing process. But there are plenty of strategies and tools you can use to strengthen your resolve.
Take good care of yourself, reward your progress, and surround yourself with positive and inspirational people. Remember what made you choose sobriety in the first place, keep a journal, and turn to motivational quotes and apps when you need an extra boost of inspiration.
You can find the motivation to stay sober and continue on your recovery journey.
