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So, identify the other activities that you enjoy and increase them. Whether it’s exercising or spending time with friends, “we need another outlet to fill the void that alcohol leaves,” said Dr Murphy.
Find your staff.
You are more likely to be successful in abstaining from drinking if you have support. “Talk to as many safe friends and family about this as possible,” Dr Murphy said.
It also helps you connect with other people who share your goal. In-person support meetings have become difficult to access during the pandemic, but help has proliferated online. Free sobriety support communities with virtual meetings include Alcoholics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, SheRecovers, In the Rooms, Eight Step Recovery, Refuge Recovery, Recovery Dharma, and LifeRing, among others. Neither good lighting nor charisma is required or expected; reach from your phone while walking in a park or sitting in your car.
“I go to two meetings a day now,” said Braunwyn Windham-Burke, a reality TV star whose sobriety journey is currently taking place on season 15 of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” “It’s so easy, because it’s in my room.”
Tempest member Valentine Darling, 32, of Olympia, Wash., Finds virtual meetings to be more LGBTQ-friendly as well. “I feel safe sitting next to my houseplants, so I am more fully present and I am also more authentically myself: I wear dresses and I express my sex without fear of anyone following me home.
Many organizations organize meetings especially for people of color, certain age groups, or even professions. Ben’s Friends is a sobriety support group for restaurant workers. “We speak a common language in restaurants,” said co-founder Steve Palmer. “You find out, ‘OK, he’s a line cook. She’s a barmaid. They are my people. ”
Understand what recovery means to you.
If your month of abstinence has been relatively easy to accomplish, just think of it as a reset. But if you’re struggling to stick to your plan, you might need more than group meetings. You can have AUD, which is an illness, not a moral failure, and it requires treatment like any illness. The most effective form of recovery usually involves long-term behavioral therapy and community support as well as medication, if needed.
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