Maintaining Your Emotional Sobriety

Though everyone in recovery from drug and alcohol misuse hopes to maintain a lifestyle that is free of the debilitating effects of their substance of choice, some people lose sight of the emotional part of the equation. Your goal in recovery should be to achieve not only physical sobriety, but emotional sobriety – the ability to live a satisfying and productive substance-free life.

What Is Emotional Sobriety?

Physical sobriety means learning to live without drugs and alcohol. Though it can present several roadblocks, the path itself is relatively straightforward. Achieving emotional sobriety is somewhat more challenging because it involves the ability to face your feelings, particularly those connected to drug and alcohol use.

Everyone relies on specific coping mechanisms to help them deal with realities that are otherwise painful or uncomfortable to confront. People who become addicted to drugs and alcohol begin to find solace in these substances, instead of relying on healthier outlets. As a result, addicts become experts at numbing their feelings instead of facing up to them and dealing with them as they arise. Becoming emotionally sober means learning how to reconnect with your emotions and allowing yourself to fully feel them again.

Initially, you may feel as if drug or alcohol detox is the most challenging part of your recovery. However, learning to process your emotions in a healthy way can be an even more significant hurdle in the long run if you have become accustomed to masking your feelings with chemical dependency.

Achieving Emotional Sobriety

All addiction rehab should involve some element of emotional sobriety. Though your goal in recovery should be an overall sense of happiness, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed if you are having an off day. Rather, emotional sobriety is about being present in the moment, finding your true self and accessing all your feelings, regardless of whether those are good or bad.

Emotional sobriety has a different meaning for everyone in recovery; however, it generally boils down to:

• Maintaining a healthy emotional balance
• Accepting reality as it is
• Letting go of the past
• Not worrying about what might happen in the future

Achieving harmony and balance in your life involves learning how to leverage proven therapies to process emotions and learn healthy coping mechanisms. Addiction treatment offers many beneficial therapeutic approaches, such as:

• Life coaching
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Yoga and meditation
• Individual and group counseling

Find Your Emotional Center

If you achieve physical sobriety but never work on confronting your feelings, you are putting yourself at higher risk of a relapse. Accepting that addiction recovery is a lifelong process can help shift your focus. Although you may experience occasional setbacks, stick to the goals of living in the moment and maintaining control of your emotions. Give yourself permission to embrace whatever you are feeling without judging yourself harshly.

Hope Academy offers a program tailored specifically to help young adults achieve lifelong freedom from chemical dependency and lay the foundation for the rest of their lives. We provide much-needed structure and guidance for young adults and college-aged students who are entering into adulthood and have lost focus on a healthy mindset. Contact us today for young adult addiction treatment in California.

6 Healthy Ways to Release Emotional Tension

There are a lot of emotions tangled up with getting sober. You may be anxious or angry, or frustrated at times – and you may not even full understand why. When you’re overwhelmed by your emotions, you may just want to cram them in a box and deal with them later. But that’s a slippery slope that can lead to relapse. Instead, it’s best to find a healthy way to identify and cope with your feelings. Here are some simple ideas to release your thoughts and worries.

• Get creative. Creativity is a great outlet for your emotions, whether that means painting, writing poetry, singing, dancing, or playing an instrument. Find which creative outlet helps you work out your feelings.
• Confide in a trustworthy person. Hopefully, you feel comfortable talking to your parents about your inner thoughts. However, if you don’t, seek support from another trusted adult like an aunt or uncle, teacher, or guidance counselor.
• Write it out. Journaling, or writing down your thoughts and emotions, is a simple way to identify your emotions and then let them go. Sit down for 15 minutes each day and write down whatever comes to mind – don’t try to edit yourself or sensor any thoughts.
• Take a deep breath. Formally practicing deep breathing – whenever you feel angry, upset, frustrated, stressed or anxious – is an excellent way to reduce those negative feelings and calm down. Breathe from the diaphragm, inhaling deeply for five counts and exhaling slowly for five counts.
• Practice meditation. Many young people find meditation helpful. This simple mind-body technique can help you fully feel your emotions (without distraction) and move through “stuck” feelings into a place of healing.
• Let yourself laugh and cry. It’s OK to feel your emotions fully; it may even make you feel better. Give yourself permission to have a good guffaw or bout of tears once in a while. 

Finding Emotional Support at Hope Academy
A host of emotions inevitably arise as you begin working toward your sobriety goals. The professionals at Hope Academy can teach you to manage these feelings without resorting to substance abuse. To learn more, call 866-930-4673.