What Does It Mean To Be Completely Sober?
According to the Merriam-webster dictionary, the definition of sober is not intoxicated or abstaining from taking intoxicating drugs or from drinking alcohol. Sober can also mean refraining from using any addictive substances.
Sobriety, on the other hand, is the quality or state of being sober. Sobriety can have a different meaning for different people. It is a complex concept that revolves around how a person with a drug, alcohol or other addiction issue lives their life. It is choosing to remain sober and abstinence from addictive substances. Sobriety is also finding peace within yourself and learning to cope and feel instead of numbing or self-medicating.
Is It Possible To Be Completely Sober?
Addiction and alcoholism are terrible diseases that affect millions of Americans year after year after year. Some addicts will go into treatment several times and come out only to pick right back up and start drinking or using again. Sobriety is possible, but you have to want it more than anything in this world. You have to work on it every single day, and no matter what, you cannot pick back up. Learning to cope using healthy coping skills and getting professional help for any underlying mental health disorders are also very important steps to be completely sober.
How Can A Sober Living Home Help You To Be Completely Sober?
Sober living homes are houses where all residents are in recovery. They provide the bridge between getting sober and living sober. Transitioning from treatment to regular everyday life can be overwhelming, so sober living homes are available to provide structure, support, and direction. In addition, individuals that come out of treatment have to be motivated to stay completely sober, and sober living homes can help with that motivation.
The National Institute of Health Substance Use and Rehabilitation “Motivation to maintain sobriety among residents of sober living recovery homes” says,
Focus group results supported the importance of costs and benefits as motivational forces influencing abstinence. However, participants also emphasized characteristics of the sober living recovery environment as important factors influencing motivation. Interactions among recovering peers offer unique opportunities for feeling understood, recognizing vulnerability in others, identifying with the recovery processes of others, receiving supportive confrontation, and engaging in mutual accountability. These experiences are important elements of motivation that become activated by involvement in the SLH environment and are difficult to replicate outside of that context. (NIH)
Sober living homes also motivate individuals to be completely sober by performing random and targeted urine drug screening. Any resident with a positive test result could be evicted from the home, and for some people, this is the only place they have to live for now. So, drug screens are a huge motivator to stay completely sober. Others are motivated by legal, financial, and interpersonal costs.
Some of the other motivators can be finding work and getting a job, reengaging with one’s family, getting legal problems straightened out, regaining a driver’s or professional license, or eventually being able to help others get sober.
Reach Sober Living Home for Addiction Treatment
Being completely sober is a goal that all addicts and alcoholics should have. However, you can’t put a price on getting your life back and living your life free of unnecessary worry, having peace back into your life, and being genuinely happy again without using any substances.
Overcome Addiction at New You Sober Living
Sober living is the next best step any alcoholic or addict can take after completing treatment. The more support, structure, and help a newly recovering addict can get, they will likely remain completely sober. New You Sober Living offers a long-term supervised structure and sober support for both men and women in South Florida.
We provide individualized care and offer a personalized experience for each of our residents. If you need a safe place to stay after treatment, we are a phone call away! Our specialists are available around the clock to help you with all of your recovery needs.
