How to Live a Sober Lifestyle
I am coming up on three years of sobriety from working a 12-step program.
When I first got sober, I knew nothing about how to live a sober lifestyle. I had been in a 12-step program about ten years ago and relapsed, so I apparently never learned how to live a sober way of life. This time has been very different. Not only did circumstance meet willingness, but I knew I was done with the life I was living.
In the beginning, I would listen in meetings to hear what other people had done. About five weeks into sobriety, I did not feel like I was a part of what was going on around me. I talked to my sponsor, and he suggested taking a journal to meetings and not sharing for a month. You have got to be kidding me, I thought. Not share for a month? My sponsor told me to write down everything I heard that I related to and note what was similar to me and my circumstances. Well, I did what he asked and a few weeks in I realized I kept looking for the differences between me and everyone else. I did not want to “be like them.” Well, sure enough, I was just like them; different story but the same issues.
This was a turning point for me in learning how to live a sober lifestyle. I had to own the fact that I’m an alcoholic. This acceptance opened up a door to true surrender to God and my program of recovery.
Living sober is not, for me, about not taking a drink or not using a drug. It is about delving into the things that moved me toward outside things to manage my life.
How to live a sober lifestyle is about facing life for what it is and using the things I have learned in recovery. It is about being open and honest with my sponsor when I am facing the unknown—true accountability. Realistically, just about everything I face is the unknown. Today, I live a life without making decisions and reacting to my old habits and ways of life.
Living a sober lifestyle is also about my daily choices.
My sobriety is based solely on my relationship with God, end of story. I start my day, every day, in prayer. It is not elaborate or spiritual mountaintop stuff. I talk to God just like I am sitting down and having a cup of coffee with a friend. This is how I live a sober lifestyle. I can face the day without taking a drink, but if I am not focused on living a spiritual life, I might as well have a drink because I start to behave like I’m in the midst of addiction, letting my resentment and anger get the better of me. I think they call that a “dry drunk.”
The amazing thing about God, for me, is that there is no measuring stick of success. I have days when things are just not right. That is okay. When I focus on Him and His direction, all is good. That is the only way I know how to live a sober lifestyle.
If you or someone you love is ready to seek help, please
contact the professionals at Fair Oaks Recovery Center today at
(888) 576-0222.
BrightEdge\BEIXFClient Object
(
[connectTime:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => 52
[_get_capsule_api_url:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => https://ixfd1-api.bc0a.com/api/ixf/1.0.0/get_capsule/f00000000296879/0870560499?client=php_sdk&client_version=1.5.12&base_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffairoaksrecoverycenter.com%2Fblog%2Flive-sober-lifestyle%2F&orig_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffairoaksrecoverycenter.com%2Fblog%2Flive-sober-lifestyle%2F&user_agent=Mozilla%2F5.0+AppleWebKit%2F537.36+%28KHTML%2C+like+Gecko%3B+compatible%3B+ClaudeBot%2F1.0%3B+%2Bclaudebot%40anthropic.com%29
[displayCapsuleUrl:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => https://ixfd1-api.bc0a.com/api/ixf/1.0.0/get_capsule/f00000000296879/0870560499
[capsule:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => BrightEdge\Capsule Object
(
[accountId:protected] => f00000000296879
[publishingEngine:protected] => ixf-compiler
[dateCreated:protected] => 1.7007315494E+12
[datePublished:protected] => 1.7007315494E+12
[version:protected] => 1.0.0.0
[capsuleNodeList:protected] => Array
(
[0] => BrightEdge\Node Object
(
[type:protected] => bodystr
[dateCreated:protected] => 1.70073154992E+12
[datePublished:protected] => 1.7007315494E+12
[publishingEngine:protected] => link-block
[engineVersion:protected] => 1.0.0.0
[metaString:protected] =>
[content:protected] =>
[feature_group:protected] => body_1
[redirectType:BrightEdge\Node:private] =>
[redirectURL:BrightEdge\Node:private] =>
)
[1] => BrightEdge\Node Object
(
[type:protected] => headstr
[dateCreated:protected] => 1.70073154992E+12
[datePublished:protected] => 1.7007315494E+12
[publishingEngine:protected] => pixel
[engineVersion:protected] => 1.0.0.0
[metaString:protected] =>
[content:protected] =>
[feature_group:protected] => _head_open
[redirectType:BrightEdge\Node:private] =>
[redirectURL:BrightEdge\Node:private] =>
)
)
[configList:protected] => stdClass Object
(
[page_groups] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[priority] => 1
[include_rules] => Array
(
[0] => .*fairoaksrecoverycenter\.staging\.tempurl\.host\/.*
)
[name] => staging
[exclude_rules] => Array
(
)
)
[1] => stdClass Object
(
[priority] => 2
[include_rules] => Array
(
[0] => fairoaksrecoverycenter\.com
)
[name] => Global Settings
[exclude_rules] => Array
(
)
)
)
)
[pageGroupNodes:protected] => Array
(
[0] => BrightEdge\Node Object
(
[type:protected] => bodystr
[dateCreated:protected] => 1.70073154992E+12
[datePublished:protected] => 1.7007315494E+12
[publishingEngine:protected] => link-block
[engineVersion:protected] => 1.0.0.0
[metaString:protected] =>
[content:protected] =>
[feature_group:protected] => body_1
[redirectType:BrightEdge\Node:private] =>
[redirectURL:BrightEdge\Node:private] =>
)
)
[allPageGroupNodes:protected] => stdClass Object
(
[excluded_config] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[feature_group] => body_1
[engine_version] => 1.0.0.0
[content] =>
[date_published] => 1700731549398
[date_created] => 1700731549922
[type] => bodystr
[publishing_engine] => link-block
)
)
[staging] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[feature_group] => body_1
[engine_version] => 1.0.0.0
[content] =>
[date_published] => 1700731549398
[date_created] => 1700731549922
[type] => bodystr
[publishing_engine] => link-block
)
)
[Global Settings] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[feature_group] => body_1
[engine_version] => 1.0.0.0
[content] =>
[date_published] => 1700731549398
[date_created] => 1700731549922
[type] => bodystr
[publishing_engine] => link-block
)
)
)
[pageGroup:protected] => Global Settings
)
[_capsule_response:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => {
"account_id": "f00000000296879",
"date_published": 1700731549398,
"key": "-0",
"is_universal_capsule_enabled": "false",
"capsule_version": "1.0.0.0",
"engine_version": "1.0.0.0",
"version": 2,
"date_created": 1700731549398,
"nodes": [
{
"feature_group": "body_1",
"engine_version": "1.0.0.0",
"content": "",
"date_published": 1700731549398,
"date_created": 1700731549922,
"type": "bodystr",
"publishing_engine": "link-block"
},
{
"feature_group": "_head_open",
"engine_version": "1.0.0.0",
"content": "\n",
"date_published": 1700731549398,
"date_created": 1700731549924,
"type": "headstr",
"publishing_engine": "pixel"
}
],
"config": {
"page_groups": [
{
"priority": 1,
"include_rules": [
".*fairoaksrecoverycenter\\.staging\\.tempurl\\.host\\/.*"
],
"name": "staging",
"exclude_rules": []
},
{
"priority": 2,
"include_rules": [
"fairoaksrecoverycenter\\.com"
],
"name": "Global Settings",
"exclude_rules": []
}
]
},
"publishing_engine": "ixf-compiler",
"page_group_nodes": {
"excluded_config": [
{
"feature_group": "body_1",
"engine_version": "1.0.0.0",
"content": "",
"date_published": 1700731549398,
"date_created": 1700731549922,
"type": "bodystr",
"publishing_engine": "link-block"
}
],
"staging": [
{
"feature_group": "body_1",
"engine_version": "1.0.0.0",
"content": "\n",
"date_published": 1700731549398,
"date_created": 1700731549922,
"type": "bodystr",
"publishing_engine": "link-block"
}
],
"Global Settings": [
{
"feature_group": "body_1",
"engine_version": "1.0.0.0",
"content": "\n",
"date_published": 1700731549398,
"date_created": 1700731549922,
"type": "bodystr",
"publishing_engine": "link-block"
}
]
}
}
[allowDirectApi:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => 1
[debugMode:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] =>
[disableRedirect:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] =>
[deferRedirect:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] =>
[_normalized_url:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => https://fairoaksrecoverycenter.com/blog/live-sober-lifestyle/
[_original_url:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => https://fairoaksrecoverycenter.com/blog/live-sober-lifestyle/
[client_user_agent:BrightEdge\BEIXFClient:private] => Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
[errorMessages:protected] => Array
(
)
[profileHistory:protected] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[0] => constructor
[1] => 52
)
[1] => Array
(
[0] => getFeatureString
[1] => 0
)
[2] => Array
(
[0] => getFeatureString
[1] => 0
)
)
[config] => Array
(
[sdk.environment] => production
[api.endpoint] => https://ixfd1-api.bc0a.com
[sdk.charset] => UTF-8
[sdk.account] => f00000000296879
[sdk.connectTimeout] => 1000
[sdk.socketTimeout] => 1000
[sdk.crawlerConnectTimeout] => 1000
[sdk.crawlerSocketTimeout] => 1000
[whitelist.parameter.list] => ixf
[forcedirectapi.parameter.list] => ixf-api|ixf
[flat.file] => true
[sdk.proxyPort] => 0
[sdk.proxyProtocol] => http
[crawler.useragents] => google|bingbot|msnbot|slurp|duckduckbot|baiduspider|yandexbot|sogou|exabot|facebot|ia_archiver|brightedge
[content.base.path] => /nas/content/live/fairoaksrecove/wp-content/themes/valley
[diagnostic.type] => full_encrypted
[diagnostic.string] => 1
[capsule.mode] => remote.prod.capsule
[page.independent] => false
)
)
