You might ask “what’s next after gaining sobriety?” Healing from substance misuse will be life-changing.
One of the first things I did after getting sober was to start writing a list of goals for my future.
My first goal to focus on was to get my body back into shape. I was in the Air Force and struggled huffing and puffing to get through the annual physical training test. I grabbed a small note pad and started recording down all my work-out efforts for each day. I wrote down how many push-ups and sit-ups I did in one minute. I recorded how many times I jumped rope and my run times for each day. Keeping track of my exercises in the note pad kept me accountable, and I could visually see my numbers and times progress to a better fitness level.
I also lost 15 pounds which helped me feel so much better physically and mentally. The final result of these steps that I took each day to get back into shape came to fruition and thus achieved the goal.
What are your goals in sobriety? How do you picture it? What do you want the future to look like?
These are great questions to figure out your next steps and focus in on them. This should also provide you with a sense of motivation. Write these goals down and start to pursue them. Do you want to go to school? Start a family? Find a career or job? This is all exciting! You will be so busy in perusing your goals that you won’t have time to think about using or drinking.
Don’t look back at your past to re-hash it all; instead, look forward and stay focused on your future to make it awesome!
You will have lots of feelings and emotions while obtaining sobriety, but feelings are just feelings. You let them come and go and just ride the wave. Don’t focus too much on them. If you don’t know where to start, ask others who have some years of sobriety. They may know of different resources available to help you start your goals. Your local library should also have a wealth of information on resources available to you.
Connecting with people at meetings will help you feel stable by focusing on them. Just because you are starting your recovery journey doesn’t mean you can’t help others as well. Finding other sober friends to hang out is a huge part of the recovery process and a necessary one.
Staying focused on achieving your goals and forming connections with new friends is tantamount to keeping your sobriety. Look forward to this new exciting time of your life!
Kristi traveling around the world, 2024
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