How to Survive Your First Year Sober

Seeking treatment for your addiction is the first step on your path to sobriety. After getting the help you need, you may be feeling nervous about entering the world as your new, sober self. It can be scary, but with a well-defined plan and resources at your disposal, you can strongly continue on your journey. Here are some tips on how to survive your first year sober.

Magnolia Recovery is a safe, temptation-free environment outside of Charleston, SC for women to work through the 12-steps. Contact us to learn more.

Rely on Your Support System

The worst thing you could do during your first year of sobriety is to isolate yourself. Spend time building strong relationships to serve as your support system. Surrounding yourself with trustworthy, understanding people that you can talk to or hang out with during both good and bad days will help you feel more secure—and happy—in your sobriety.

Create a Structured Schedule

Maintaining a rigid schedule is key. Ideally, you should get up around the same time, plan to eat nutritious meals, and have a roadmap of items to complete each day. You should especially carve out time to partake in activities you enjoy—not everything you do has to be centered on your sobriety. A large part of staying sober is creating a well-rounded, balanced lifestyle.

However, one thing we do recommend is continuing to attend meetings. These will allow you to speak openly about your sobriety, including your struggles and successes. If you’re looking for resources, Magnolia Recovery hosts Zoom meetings to keep you connected. We also provide our residents with transportation to AA and NA meetings. Contact us to learn more.

Handling Good and Bad Days

Naturally, you’re going to have both good and bad days, but what’s important is knowing how to cope with them. This is where the skills you’ve gained from your treatment, building your support system, and having a schedule come into play, as these three things can help you work through the struggles you may be facing.

Avoid Triggers

We cannot stress this enough. Many people who are just starting on their path to sobriety are overly confident and immediately return to triggering places and hanging out with negatively influential people. Don’t fall into this trap—recovery takes time, and no matter how much you may believe you’re ready to be thrown back into these situations, it’s not worth the risk of relapse.

Know There is a Risk of Relapse

That said, life can be hard, and temptation can arise even when you least expect it. This means there is always a risk that you could relapse. You need to make sure you have a solid plan in place in case this does occur, such as calling your sponsor or someone in your support system immediately. If you do relapse, know that you did not fail—you need to take this as an opportunity to learn what went wrong and how you can prevent it from happening again in the future.

Reach out to Magnolia Recovery

We hope these tips on how to survive your first year sober assist you on your journey. However, if you find yourself struggling, Magnolia Recovery offers women facing addiction a safe, temptation-free environment to work through our 12-step immersion program. Contact us today to learn more.