6 Healthy Habits for Sober Living

Completing a recovery program is only half of the journey. The second half—and the part

that can cause the most anxiety—is once the official program is over and re-entry into home and work life begins.

It’s normal to feel anxious and stressed about how you’ll cope with life at home. There are simple tools to implement that can help you stay on the road to a healthy, fulfilling life.

The first step is to identify the stresses in life that are within your control, including who you spend time with and what you put into your body. This is a valuable action whether or not you’re in recovery.

Healthy Eating

Eat nourishing nutrient-rich foods to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is an especially important step if you’re new to sober living. Make sure your kitchen is stocked with organic, fresh foods. Avoid processed foods with unhealthy fats or sugars.

Healthy Social Circle

The same philosophy applies to social circles. If you’re in recovery, you want to avoid environments that support or condone substance abuse. Repeated exposure to friends, family, or coworkers who abuse substances can make you feel powerless and cause an undue amount of stress in your life.

A person who is in recovery is often not used to putting him or herself first. So very often, changing the nature of personal relationships is particularly challenging. However, even when it is difficult, remember that you’re choosing to live a new life. It’s time to make a conscious choice to forge nurturing friendships.

Work on learning to recognize, and perhaps even end, those relationships that will sabotage your efforts.

Live Honestly

As you begin your new life, make an effort to be honest. The world of addiction is fraught with dishonesty.

When you were abusing substances you might have hid your activities from others. You might have used substances to mask pain and trauma, instead of being honest about your true emotions.

A healthy lifestyle demands truthfulness with the self. You must connect with your emotions, and feel what you feel, even when it is painful, without the interference of substances to keep those feelings at bay. As you interact with others, do your best to communicate your needs as honestly as you can. Being honest is a practice—the more you do it, the better you will become.

Meditation and Yoga

Cultivating and sustaining a regular meditation practice can also be helpful. As you spend time each day sitting in silence and reconnecting with stillness, you might begin to recognize who you really are: pure spirit and divine consciousness. You might start to understand that the drama of life is not real or necessary, and you can address stresses that arise more easily.

Yoga asana practice can be an excellent preparation for meditation, particularly when the poses are gentle and restorative. Yoga, which means the union of mind, body, and spirit, is a wonderful way to create balance from within. From this place of balance and calm, you can feel better prepared to face and enjoy life’s many wonderful uncertainties.

Proper Sleep

A proper amount of sleep is essential for healthy living, and yet it’s often cut short.

Sleep allows the brain to detoxify and the body to recharge. But in the hustle and bustle of modern life, sleep can be elusive. By simply aligning ourselves with the rhythms of nature, we can create a healthy sleep habit. Ideally, we should get to bed by about 10:00 p.m. and rise no later than 6:00 a.m., to get a solid night’s rest. Feeling rested is important to staying mindful and aware, and it can help you make more conscious choices.

Seek Out Assistance

The Chopra Addiction & Wellness Center offers a number of tools to help individuals cope with life’s stressors and remain healthy and free from substances. Along with healthy, organic meals and therapeutic guidance to help navigate relationships, the center teaches guests Primordial Sound Meditation, yoga asana practice, the value of spending time in nature, and other practices based on the timeless healing wisdom of Ayurveda.

These practices can benefit not only those recovering from addiction, but all individuals who seek to cultivate greater peace in their lives. The center also works with families to create a holistic approach to healthy living.

Coping with life in recovery takes effort, but it is well worth the time and attention. You can experience all of life’s joys and sorrows, and feel more connected to yourself and everything around you by choosing to live consciously.

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