Recovering from drug or alcohol addiction is a challenging but transformative journey. Despite eliminating alcohol or drugs from your life, there is much more to gain.
Drug or alcohol addiction can be debilitating, physically and mentally. However, life in recovery can also pose its challenges, especially in social situations.
One of the biggest challenges people face is resisting relapse triggers, whether social, environmental, physical, emotional, and so on.
Social and environmental relapse triggers often come in the form of peer pressure, feeling left out, and not being able to function sober in settings such as parties, pubs, and so on.
However, life in recovery doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, a life of sobriety can be much more enriching.
Read on to find out how you can maintain joy, connectivity, and live life to the fullest during alcohol recovery – without sacrificing fun.
Sobriety and Increased Potential for Enjoyment
In order to take advantage of a life of healthy sobriety, you have to first understand its benefits. Then, you can maximise your life to its fullest potential.
Here are the benefits of a life of sobriety which many people will overlook:
1. Improved physical & mental health
It goes without saying that someone who doesn’t engage in drug or alcohol consumption reaps the benefits of improved physical and mental health.
In fact, many people underestimate the severity of drugs and alcohol on one’s health.
From increased cortisol and blood pressure, malnutrition, to increased vulnerability to diseases, cancer, and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, those who are sober are far less likely to fall ill.
In fact, studies show that alcohol can lead to 7 different types of cancer, and a range of diseases including but not limited to liver and cardiovascular disease.
2. Increased productivity
If you’re worried that you’re “missing out on the fun,” just remember that around 17,000,000 sick days are taken every year due to alcohol hangovers.
Not only does this lead to a loss of production in the workplace, affecting your progress and reputation within the workplace, but it can leave us bedridden and unable to perform other tasks.
Whether you’re a fitness fanatic or you have creative hobbies, living a sober life means that you will have much more time to spend on your unique interests and goals in life.
3. Greater saving potential
It’s estimated that the average adult drinker in the UK spends around £998 per year on alcohol.
Over the course of a lifetime, this works out to around £62,899 of money spent on alcohol, a physically and psychologically addictive substance which poses a range of health issues.
With this saved money, you can spend more money on other hobbies, interests, or material items without feeling guilty!
4. Realignment of priorities
Once you take a step back from drug or alcohol consumption, you will experience a realignment of your priorities.
As a sober person, you’ll experience clarity, understanding that spending hundreds of pounds or dollars of hard earned money on a debilitating substance is frivolous.
In addition to the clarity, greater saving potential, and abundance of free time on your hands, you’ll come to terms with what actually matters to you in life.
It will help you become a more independent and confident person, as you overcome the “fear” of being sober in an environment where others are intoxicated.
How to Deal with Social Pressure
Aside from a physical craving to consume drugs or alcohol, social pressure is among the toughest aspects of not only maintaining sobriety but having fun while sober.
Here’s how you can deal with the social pressure associated with sobriety:
- Remember why you’re sober: When the going gets tough, just remember why you embarked on your recovery journey. It’s important to remember the reasons – intrinsic and extrinsic – why we made the choice to become a better version of ourselves.
- Set firm boundaries: Setting firm boundaries will establish discipline in your lifestyle, whether that means a curfew, disassociating yourself from negative people, and so on.
- Decline politely: When someone offers you a drink, decline politely and maintain a friendly demeanour. Finishing your response with a positive “thank you” or “I appreciate it” will maintain an approachable front to others.
- Simplify your reason: Drinkers can be inquisitive – or even invasive – when it comes to someone’s reasoning for sobriety. It’s easier to simplify and minimize your explanation to a few words. “I’m not feeling it tonight” or “I’m on a detox” can quickly shut down the subject. The more you explain and try to justify yourself to others, the bigger of a deal it will seem to you.
- Enjoy yourself!: It’s important to remember that you’re socialising or engaging in a particular activity because you enjoy it, not because you have to. If you’re worrying about what others might think about your sobriety, just remember that people are more concerned about their own appearance than other people’s.
Practical Ways to Enjoy Life in Recovery
Life in recovery can be challenging, but it is also very rewarding.
While many people may struggle to find peace or fun in their life of recovery, it’s important to recognise that sobriety can be far more enriching than a life of partying or intoxication, whether or not you are susceptible to addiction.
Here are some practical ways you can maximise your enjoyment in everyday recovery life:
- Celebrate small wins: Creating small victories is not only a way to sustain your motivation and abstinence, it is also a way to reward yourself for your excellent progress. Creating attainable goals and celebrating small wins such as maintaining sobriety for a day or a week, or resisting a drink offer, gives you something to aim for without thinking of abstinence as a monumental task. For each goal reached, reward yourself whether you’re a foodie, avid shopper, gamer, or other!
- Try new hobbies and creative outlets: Trying new hobbies is not only a way to keep us occupied, but it is excellent for our brain and mental health. Engaging in new leisure activities and hobbies is excellent for the brain because it stimulates our creativity, self-expression, novelty, sensory activation, and more. The more we expose ourselves to new avenues and paths, the greater our potential for socialising, enjoyment, and skill development.
- Join sober communities and support groups: Social isolation is a common symptom of addiction or even addiction recovery. If you’re feeling isolated, consider joining sober communities and support groups. While you can seek direct support from fellowship groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, there are many more informal and casual sober groups online.
- Attend sober events: These online sober groups will often coordinate events and activities for their members. Whether you head to a concert, visit the park, go hiking, or grab a coffee, there are many ways to seek social stimulation and engagement without feeling the need to drink.
- Volunteer and give back: As someone with first-hand experience, you have valuable insight and perspective when it comes to facilitating change for others. Not only is volunteering a rewarding way to give back to the community, it’s also a great way to meet like-minded people.
- Mindful practices: Whether it be mindful meditation, journaling, or yoga, there are many ways you can conduct and reap the benefits of mindfulness. While meditation can teach relaxing breathing patterns, journaling can help you externalise your thoughts and feelings. Yoga also encourages us to be mindful of our physical health and integrity. Each form of mindfulness offers a range of stress-reducing and dopamine-inducing benefits.
What are sober activities for adults?
There isn’t anything that you can do while intoxicated that you can’t do sober.
Because getting drunk is so ingrained in our culture, people fear that they can’t enjoy their evenings without intoxicating substances.
Studies show that even simple activities such as “exercising, engaging in social activities, having hobbies, vacationing, and spending time outdoors” brings a range of psychological and physiological benefits to our wellbeing.
Here are some ideas of popular activities – and their benefits – that you can engage in without worrying about being in a drug or alcohol fuelled environment:
- Hiking: Depending on the route, landscape, and your goals, hiking can be anything from a peaceful and meditative activity to a form of adventure therapy. Hiking is excellent for cardiovascular health, and studies show that spending time in nature can boost your mental health.
- Art: Whether or not you’re artistic or creative, art is an excellent way to externalise your thoughts and imagination. Through painting, drawing, crafting, or other, art offers therapeutic benefits. Art therapy is a common form of alcoholism addiction treatment for patients in recovery because it can reduce anxiety and stress, and it also introduces people to a new form of past time.
- Sports & fitness: Sports and fitness activities come in a wide range of activities, whether you’re interested in running, weightlifting, martial arts, team sports, and so on. In addition to increased muscle mass and cardiovascular health, exercise can induce the release of dopamine and serotonin in the brain which leads to reduced stress and anxiety.
- Cooking: Cooking is thought by experts to stimulate your mind by reducing stress and activating your creativity. In addition to receiving a tasty meal at the end of your session, cooking is great for your mental health because it is objective-driven and task-based. This brings forth a great sense of accomplishment once you’ve successfully completed your dish.
Building a Fun-Focused Recovery Plan
It’s important that you don’t overlook leisure and fun in your recovery plan. While a typical recovery plan will include aftercare elements such as the 12-step program, therapy, and so forth, fun is needed for a balanced lifestyle.
Whether your “fun” stems from sports, gaming, movies, socialising, music, art, or anything else, it’s important that you don’t neglect these elements of your life.
Even if it’s not technically skill-based or educational, having fun is integral to managing a healthy lifestyle, especially in a period of healing.
Embracing a Fun, Sober Life
A life of sobriety enhances physical and mental health, increases productivity, increases saving potential, and helps realign your priorities in life.
It also helps reinforce you as a person, as you learn to handle social pressure by setting boundaries and remembering your “why” when it comes to abstinence.
Remember to embrace new hobbies, engage in sober communities, practice mindfulness, and celebrate small wins, and there isn’t a single reason why “fun” and “sober” can coexist!