What is Emotional Sobriety and How to Achieve It
The emotional aspect of sobriety is one of the most important parts for long-term success from addiction. Physical sobriety is where you stay away from substances, but the emotional side is where you look to balance how you feel while sober. You can do this by understanding your emotions, triggers, mental health, and physical health. In this blog, we will look at emotional sobriety and provide practical steps to help you achieve it.
If you or a loved one could benefit from 12 Steps to Recovery, contact Myrtle Beach Recovery to learn about our comfortable residential setting.
Understanding Emotional Sobriety
Emotional sobriety is the ability to regulate your emotions without needing any form of substance to feel happy or grounded. This goes beyond not using drugs or drinking, this is about feeling emotionally resilient even when sober. Bill. W., one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), recognized that real recovery involves more than just removing the addiction, it also means living a fulfilling life.
Emotional sobriety is all about feeling at peace with yourself and the world around you. It’s remaining happy and calm in the face of stress. This can be challenging for those who have used substances to achieve this state thus far.
The Importance of Emotional Sobriety in Recovery
Without emotional sobriety, you will likely eventually relapse as the emotional stress that leads you to addiction is never truly addressed. Getting emotional sobriety right can put a hard and fast stop to a lot of triggers, so you self-destruct less.
Gaining the tools to handle stress, anxiety, depression, isolation, etc, without substances can lead to your life improving in many positive ways. You can strengthen relationships, make better decisions, change your job, and handle the extra pressures of hobbies, social situations, and even schooling.
Steps to Achieve Emotional Sobriety
If emotional sobriety sounds like the missing piece in your recovery journey, we have put together some steps you can take to achieve it below.
1. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is when you are present in the moment and do not judge the thoughts circling in your mind. In fact, by watching your thoughts go by, you can understand why you make the decisions you make about substances. You can practice mindfulness with meditation, deep breathing, journaling, or taking a moment each day to check in with yourself and see how you are feeling.
2. Develop Healthy Coping Mechanisms
You will need some new tools to help you cope with stress. This could be exercise, journaling, therapy, or creative hobbies. Whatever helps you process your feelings and leaves you feeling more optimistic is perfect for helping you to decompress.
3. Build a Support System
Isolation is a big problem for addictions. You need a strong support system you can turn to before using. And people you can talk to about your daily problems to help you problem solve or vent before it causes such stress that you feel like you need substances. This could be friends, family, or even intensive one-on-one programs like the one we have at Myrtle Beach Recovery.
4. Work Through Past Trauma
Past trauma can impact a lot of how we feel today. Seeking therapy to see the best way you can handle your trauma is the best step here. A professional can help you find what will work for you as this isn’t something to face alone.
5. Commit to Personal Growth
Self-improvement is a fun way to see how we can change as an individual for the better. Setting SMART goals and educating yourself with books or audiobooks are two tools to try. Self-improvement doesn’t have to be related to sobriety, it could be hobbies, relationships, or work. But seeing yourself change and aspects of your life improve can be inspiring.
Embracing Emotional Sobriety
Emotional sobriety is how you will stay sober long-term and actually enjoy recovery. By understanding your emotions and how you can tackle them for a healthier you, you can create a life where you wake up every day excited to live it. At Myrtle Beach Recovery, we offer support and resources to help you on this journey. Contact us today to see if we have any programs that will work for you.
