Protecting Your Sobriety

If you want to stay sober over the long haul then there are certain things you need to do in order to protect your sobriety. Here are my top recommendations for doing so:

1) Fight complacency - by pushing yourself to keep growing in new ways. This is so important and most people don't even realize that complacency is what causes relapse. Most people think that relapse is caused when someone "stops going to meetings" or something similar. This is very misleading because in all actuality they person got complacent, and their lack of meeting attendance was merely a symptom of that complacency. In fact meetings have nothing to do with it and what really causes people to relapse is when they stop growing.

2) Help other alcoholics - nothing can be more beneficial in long term sobriety. If you want to insure yourself against the possibility of relapse then the best thing you can do is to reach out and help a struggling alcoholic. Nothing is more powerful for keeping you sober. Now if you really want to insure this protection, find ways to make a habit out of doing so. Sponsorship, chairing AA meetings, or working directly with newcomers are all good ways of doing this.

3) Focus on holistic health - this is important to your long term sobriety because without it, you can fall victim to any number of problems and some of them can lead back to drinking. I have seen people get sick and end up relapsing as an indirect result of being sick for so long. I have also seen people get sick and end up taking some medications that eventually led them back to the bottle.

But this goes beyond physical sicknesses as well. You should also strive for good health in all areas of your life, such as with emotional balance and mental health.