Drugs and alcohol can destroy your life. Sometimes staying sober can seem like an impossible challenge, even for just one night. The nighttime during early sobriety can be especially difficult. So, how can you go through the night sober? Let’s look at some tested suggestions.
Prepare a Preventative Plan
One important thing that can prove indispensable to staying sober through the night is not to wait until the night to have a plan. Just about anyone with any amount of clean and sober time will attest to one common fact.
Triggers can happen unexpectedly. Without a plan in place, you may find yourself without a defense against the drink or drug that hurls you back down into a spiral of relapse. There is a point of decision when these things occur.
They are not uncommon. However, those in recovery who continue their sober day count into another 24-hour day will attest to having done something to stay sober. You may find out some devastating news, or simply be so early in recovery the cravings seem unbearable.
Life can throw a challenge in front of your sobriety at any moment. You could be preparing to make it through your first night sober or night many years into your recovery. The key is to have a preventative plan in place beforehand. Let’s look at a few preventative measures you might use.
Distractive Diversions
Much of the intensity generated by immediate cravings will only last a few minutes. Having a plan in place to help you create a temporary diversion can help. While you should not rely solely on your own willpower, having a creative diversion is a good first recourse.
This could be grabbing a snack, or drinking a non-alcoholic beverage. Sometimes sitting down with a television or radio can distract your thoughts enough to overcome a temporary urge. Don’t rely on these diversions for too long, but having a plan in place ahead of time can get you past these brief challenges.
Avoid Risks
There is an interesting saying spoken in recovery circles. It insists that if you hang around a barbershop long enough, you’ll eventually get a haircut. This may seem amusing until you grasp the profound wisdom when it concerns the struggle to stay clean and sober.
No one trying to recover from addiction should subject themselves to hot triggers to their sobriety. If you were a bar drinker, avoid the risk and stay away from bars. It may seem like a senseless suggestion, but far too many have lost their sobriety to such mistakes. Stories of attending social functions, without support, have erased sobriety dates in an instant.
Those battling to stay sober through the night, someone who has problems even bypassing the beer aisle at the grocery or convenience store, must have a preventative plan in place. Better to have an understanding friend pick up a few essentials, than risk your sobriety. One important way to stay sober through the night is to avoid risks.
Support Network
This is one of the most valuable tools for your recovery. A solid support network can help you navigate a multitude of challenging situations in sobriety without relapsing. A good support system will include a few numbers, not just one.
Not everyone in your support network may be available 24 hours a day. If you only have one or two people, the likelihood you are without someone to talk to is too risky. Build a healthy list of names and numbers, and talk about how heavily you can count on these people before you need them.
In addition, try to have some level of regular contact with some of these people. It can be very difficult to just suddenly pick up the phone and call someone you haven’t spoken to in weeks, if ever. Build this support network as if you may need them at any given instant.
Not only can these individuals be invaluable to stopping a relapse, but they will also become an important way to deal with everyday life challenges. However, if you find yourself on the edge of relapse, your sobriety on the line, anyone from this support network could save your life.
One final point to remember is not to forget to congratulate yourself for making it to the next morning. Whether it’s making it through your first night sober or overcoming a sincere challenge to long-term sobriety, you made it.
To get through the night, or any other obstacle that may challenge your sobriety, build a preventative plan as suggested. Have in place ahead of time. You never know when you’ll need it. Your addiction is a patient, silent killer that can trigger at any moment. Be prepared.
If you feel you may have a problem with drugs or alcohol, but have yet to ask for help, do it today. Help is there to begin your own wonderful journey in recovery. However, you have to ask. Reach out for help today at 833-285-1315, because tomorrow may be too late.
