10 Ways to Develop Resilience in Sobriety
Eudaimonia Recovery Homes | Posted on December 3, 2018
Making the transition from addiction into a sober lifestyle requires hard work, life skills, and the
ability to cope with challenges as they arise. After completing rehab, some sober people may
find themselves struggling to overcome certain setbacks that make it difficult to remain sober.
This struggle can lead to overwhelming feelings of anxiety, depression, and even full-blown
relapse.
Often, relapse is a result of a lack of resilience; an essential skill for anyone in recovery. If you’re
newly sober and you’re struggling to survive the day-to-day sober, taking steps to develop your
resilience may help you learn how to cope with the daily challenges of sobriety and break free
from the cycle of chronic relapse.
What is Resilience?
Psych Central defines resilience as the ability to adapt to difficult circumstances or life
events. In other words, if you are resilient, you can bounce back and recover from
challenging life circumstances such as addiction, trauma, or financial problems. Instead of
getting stuck in a bad place, you’re able to move forward and learn from the experience.
Resilience is something everyone has. Even if you don’t feel like you’re able to cope with your
cravings or triggers, you do have the ability to overcome those things and stay sober. Resilience
is a skill and you can work to increase your resilience in recovery from drug and alcohol
addiction.
Why is Resilience Important in Recovery?
Achieving a life of sustained sobriety is about so much more than just abstaining from drugs or
alcohol. Addressing the underlying issues like self-esteem problems, trauma, or lack of coping
skills is what will ultimately lead to long-term sobriety.
Resilience and recovery go hand-in-hand. Engaging in long-term addiction treatment,
establishing a sober support system, and simultaneously working to develop life skills like
resilience will bolster your sobriety and strengthen your ability to cope with life
challenges that could otherwise derail your sobriety.
Anyone in recovery who lacks resilience is much more likely to relapse because they’ll inevitably
face hard times that will challenge their sobriety and they may not have the tools to handle it.
Being able to work through challenging circumstances is often the difference between lasting
sobriety and relapse.
10 Ways to Develop Resilience in Sobriety
There are many ways you can work to develop resilience in your daily recovery.2 Whether you’
ve been sober for a few days or several years, here are 10 ways to develop resilience in sobriety.
- Make sober connections.
Continuing your addiction treatment by enrolling in a sober living program, IOP, or aftercare will
provide many opportunities to establish sober, supportive, and healthy relationships in recovery.
Regularly attending community support group meetings like [SMART Recovery] AA or NA
[Recovery Dharma] are also a great ways to make sober connections. - Start viewing challenges as an opportunity to improve.
Instead of viewing relapse, financial difficulties, or relationships problems as personal failures,
consider how these challenges can help you improve personally. Although life is full of
challenging circumstances, how we approach them makes all the difference. - Accept that you don’t have control over everything.
There will always be things in life that you can’t control and that’s okay. As a healthy, sober
person in recovery, having resilience will allow you to cope with the stress and find ways to
make it through difficult times without giving in to the temptation to use drugs or alcohol as a
crutch. - Develop personal goals and work toward them daily.
It’s important to have goals to work toward, even if they are small. For example, making your
bed each morning, meditating for 10 minutes each day, or meeting with your sober coach once
a week are all goals you can prioritize daily and weekly. - Take action.
When hard times come, rather than retreating into isolation or taking up the victim mentality,
take positive action to resolve the issue or work through it. Having a proactive mentality will
help you overcome feelings of defeat and self-loathing that could lead to relapse. - Actively seek opportunities for personal growth.
Even in the midst of a difficult situation, ask yourself how you can grow from it. It’s not always
easy to find the silver lining, but adverse situations like financial problems, relationship struggles,
or personal loss often offer opportunities for personal growth and healing. - Believe in yourself and your abilities.
Having confidence in your ability to stay sober and live a healthy, happy life goes a long way.
Although it takes time to develop confidence, surrounding yourself with supportive, sober
people will also help you learn how to trust yourself and be secure in your ability to solve
problems, overcome adversity, and live sober. - Maintain a level head.
It’s easy to blow things out of proportion, especially when your judgment is clouded by drugs
and alcohol. In sobriety, it’s perfectly okay to experience every single emotion, but the way you
choose to act in response will determine whether you stay sober or give in to the temptation to
use again. - Practice self-care.
Taking care of yourself physically and mentally has many benefits in a life of recovery and will
help ensure that you’re prepared to face difficult situations in sobriety. Prioritizing self-care in
recovery will also give you more energy to help others, improve your productivity, encourage
self-discovery, and help you focus on the present moment instead of your past. - Nurture spiritual practices.
Spiritual practices like meditation or yoga can help you restore hope and peace in good and
bad times. These practices can also keep you grounded and resolve lingering negative emotions
that are holding you back from reaching your full potential in sobriety.
