Sometimes these white lies succeed, the person leaves you alone, and you can continue not drinking and hope they don’t notice for the rest of the night. They may not believe your excuse, or insist you have a drink anyway. In the early stages, it’s a good idea to avoid situations where you may be tempted to drink. This could mean opting out of the weekly pub quiz for a while, or if you tend to drink when eating out, try going to restaurants that don’t sell alcohol or simply volunteer to drive. For other people, stopping drinking can be essential for medical reasons.
- There are also always alternatives, like soda, juice, or water, if you prefer.
- Among recovering individuals themselves, in order to reduce risks, some choose only to attend sober parties or events.
- If you’re with a group, you could offer to order the drinks from the bar.
- Your buddy for the event should be someone who doesn’t not drink.
Health Conditions
As difficult as it is, you can’t keep people around you who don’t support your sobriety. Let them know you understand it’s a little weird with you not drinking, and you’re not trying to make anyone feel like their drinking is wrong, but the jokes and Sober living home jabs aren’t helping you. If you’re worried about your drinking or concerned about someone else, support is available. No matter where you live in the UK, our service finder can help you locate your local, free and confidential alcohol support service. By cutting alcohol out of your life completely, you may notice a number of improvements to the way you look and feel. Among other things, you might find you have more energy, that you’re sleeping better, or that you’ve lost a fair amount of weight.
How to Find Sober Friends
- To loosen up without alcohol, focus on building genuine connections with others through conversation.
- At Gateway Foundation, we take the time to understand the triggers keeping you from staying sober.
- Either they will seek you out and you’ll navigate your new, sober relationship OR time will do what it always does and you’ll move on.
- If they joke around and bust your balls, take it in good humor.
- And because of this I don’t think I’ll ever be invited to another get together with my coworkers again.
If you don’t feel like explaining yourself to someone, you’re allowed to give them a “no” and leave it at that. If you’re uncomfortable sharing the exact details of your sobriety, offering to be the designated driver for the evening is one possible approach. Helping other guests get home safely lets you protect your recovery while doing a good deed in the process. Practicing saying no ahead of time can be a good way to boost your confidence if you’re in the early stages of sobriety. If you have a 12-Step being sober around drinkers sponsor, ask him or her for assistance.
Stop Trying to Change Everything: Why Sobriety Needs 100% of Your Focus
Or, maybe it’s technically true, but it isn’t the reason you aren’t drinking. People will be less likely to offer you a drink if you’re already holding a beverage in your hand. If you aren’t sure whether there will be non-alcoholic choices available at the event, bring your own soda, juice, tea, or coffee. Recovering from alcoholism can create special challenges, since alcohol is a common feature at social gatherings.
Sue is also a fine artist and painter, who enjoys traveling the world which continues to provide unlimited inspiration for her work. You can follow Sue on Twitter, or connect with her on LinkedIn. If you know the place and the people, make your own plan for how you are going to handle that environment. A dinner party with a few glasses of wine is a very different atmosphere than a Christmas party with a group of guys who routinely get smashed.
One-on-one support
In the early days, focusing on social activities that don’t center around alcohol is important. Even if your friends are not outwardly pressuring you to drink, being around everyone as they’re drinking can spark internal pressure to cave. Most people don’t experience any physical symptoms from stopping drinking. But if you are a heavy drinker or alcohol dependent, going ‘cold turkey’ (suddenly drinking no alcohol at all, if you are https://meocosmetic.vn/the-surprising-signs-your-body-is-allergic-or/ used to drinking heavily) can cause serious alcohol withdrawal symptoms. There are lots of reasons why you might want to stop drinking alcohol. For some people, it’s a lifestyle change – to say goodbye to hangovers, sleep better, lose excess weight and have more energy.