Is being sober boring? A look at life after addiction and alcoholism

I’ve seen so many people get sober, and even after 10 years, some say that life isn’t worth living, and the rest just think it’s boring and depressive. I don’t know why there are so many articles like this with a clear agenda that aren’t giving people an accurate view of the entire process, or even speaking of early withdrawal symptoms properly. One in five Americans experiences a mental health problem every year, but when it happens to someone you love, it can feel like you are all alone.

This is because it allows you to see the world through new eyes after being clouded by alcohol and drugs for so long. When you abuse substances to the point that it rewires your brain and consumes you, you struggle sleeping through the night. That’s why it’s so important to get the proper amount of sleep each night. Because of how vital sleep is, one of the key benefits of sobriety is that you get to sleep again.

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I have several hobbies too, including coding regularly, but now that I’m sober, nothing feels meaningful or “worth it.” I’d give anything to go back to my better, drinking life. However, since my wife is my best friend, I continue to try to find happiness away from alcohol.

You can take in every second, and not feel like your life is passing you by in a whirlwind of blurred memories. Long-term sobriety is a relative term—it means different things to different people. But many people consider long-term sobriety to be sobriety that has lasted at least one year. Learn that you have choices and that you can maintain control. If https://ecosoberhouse.com/ any area of your life is out of control, it will not help you maintain lasting sobriety. Research shows that if you maintain these types of toxic relationships, your chances of relapsing are greater. For example, you may have developed a co-dependent relationship, or a family member, friend, or employer may have been enabling you without even knowing it.

Living a Sober Life

If you’re in recovery from a substance use disorder, you already know how much work it took to achieve sobriety, and you’ll want to do everything possible to avoid having a relapse. It may seem that relapse is the last thing that could happen to you, but the truth is they are very common for people new to recovery. Foundation House provides a transitional sober living environment for young adult men age 17 to 35. We teach the skills needed to effectively deal with the challenges of everyday life. Sober influencers and projects like sober curious will never be alternatives to seeking medical help for addiction. If you think your partner has an alcohol addiction, you might feel it’s important to speak with them about it but don’t know where to start. Exercise increases endorphins, which are the “feel-good” chemicals in the brain.

• If gyms aren’t for you, there are many other ways you can get your body moving so you can still get good cardio.
• Remember, one of the goals of getting sober is to feel better about yourself.
• Your therapist and group sessions can help you work through the difficulties of making amends.
• By working with people in addiction I have had the privilege to show people that not only is a life of recovery real, it is also attainable.
• There are a variety of tools available that can support your path to sobriety.
• There are several aspects of your old life that you’re going to have to avoid to give yourself the best chance of staying sober.

Unfortunately, if one does have a problem attaining a sober life, ignoring it is never a solution. Those who drank and used heavily, or even just moderately, as teens and young adults, shouldn’t assume that the problem is just going to go away in their adulthood, or that they’re going to grow out of it. This is the brilliance of the 12-step movement, which so far has escaped commodification. It’s an authentic community of people with similar experiences who have found each other, and with it, so much strength in the powerful sense of belonging that they find there.

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The sober life can also give you the opportunity to think aboutnutritionas well. You’ll enjoy generalhealth and wellnessthat you can’t necessarily achieve if you’re drinking or using drugs. One big reason people feel so afraid of sobriety is because of what they see in the media, pop culture and even from people they know on social media. There’s the sense that if you’re not usingdrugsor alcohol, somehow life is boring or uninteresting. There’s the misconception that if you’re sober, you aren’t fun, you won’t be able to enjoy your life to the fullest and you’ll have trouble forming relationships.

With some perspective — which you usually obtain after certain periods of sobriety — you start to understand that life is, on occasion, mundane. That’s not the same as boring, but the routine of work, of bills, of family obligations, of doing it all over again every day can seem quite tedious. For recovering addicts and alcoholics, that tedium can be dangerous, especially when the substances don’t matter as much as the craving for more — more excitement, more emotion, more adventure, more danger. When you exercise, your brain produces chemicals called endorphins, which trigger a euphoria that’s similar to drugs and alcohol. For this reason, many people have found exercise to be an effective yet healthy substitution for substance abuse. Every addict who has been in recovery for a period of time will have picked up some tricks of the trade, so to speak.

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Addiction relapse can be viewed negatively by your friends, family, and even yourself, even though it’s a common symptom of addiction. When one is an addict, any and all extra money goes towards getting drunk or high. Even money that should go towards things like eating healthy or getting the car’s oil changed on time eventually gets siphoned off towards fueling the substance abuse. There is something about the addiction recovery process that makes you grateful for the little things in life. You learn to appreciate simple things like waking up and not feeling sick or having extra money to go out and get a cup of coffee with a friend. At a certain point, I got sick of cleaning up the messes I made while I was drunk, especially when I couldn’t even remember what I did. It felt like I was constantly apologizing for someone else’s rude behavior.

There are numerous reasons why you may want to avoid alcohol. Whether it’s to improve your physical living a sober life health or state of mind, it can be beneficial to explore the role alcohol plays in your life.

Drinking and drug use are forms of self-medication that many of us engage in to soothe emotional pain, usually stemming from some sort of adverse childhood experiences. Unfortunately for some who become addicted, trying to stay clean and sober and live the sober life is a lifelong journey. For example, maybe there’s a certain song or musical you enjoyed listening to while drinking alcohol.

• In time, you will also open the gates to more genuine, meaningful, and long-term connections with the important people in your life.
• When you’re sober, you’re able to stick to a healthy sleep schedule and wake up feeling refreshed every day.
• In a society where so many social events revolve around the consumption of alcohol, it may be difficult to say “no” when friends ask you to join them at a bar.
• But people are diagnosed with these diseases every day, and if you abuse alcohol or drugs regularly, chances are high that you’ll eventually be one of them.
• Aside from a “fevered couple months” when she first stopped drinking, Sophie never took comfort in overtly positive, wellness-oriented messaging around sobriety.

It can cause changes to your emotional state, making you feel numb to your feelings or oversensitive. PAWS may also cause insomnia, sleep disturbances, or physical coordination problems. Outside support is important to staying sober, and it can help remind you that you’re not alone. You can join a peer-led group or opt for professional-led group therapy. If getting out is an issue, look for an online group or page.