Ten Top Tips To Get You Through The First 6 Months Alcohol Free

#2: Ban all diets

The path to sobriety is ultimately brilliant. Your life is about to improve immensely. You will become richer, thinner, happier, more fulfilled and your life will change beyond recognition. This I promise you. But the path is a rocky one with ups and downs, highs and lows. You must be prepared if you are determined to succeed.

You need a plan.

I’ve written these 10 tips as a summary of all the best bits I gained from my journey to maximize your chances of success, and help you navigate the path ahead.

1. Treat your sobriety like a new born baby

You must prioritize it above everything else in your life if you want to be successful. Remember this often. If you are invited out somewhere that you may find challenging, just say no. If you need to stay away from people with who you have a long history of drinking, do it. Once your past the first 6 months, you have the rest of your life to connect with people and go to events. But for now, you must look after your sobriety.

2. Ban all diets

For the first 6 months allow yourself to eat what you want, whenever you want. Sometimes in the early days of sobriety, you’re going to have to substitute alcohol with takeaways and cake. Allow yourself to do this, you can diet later. A lot of people still lose weight as there is no alcohol calorie intake. So don’t worry about it.

Trust me when I tell you this: trying to diet in the early days will trigger alcohol cravings, and eating will take them away. So don’t let yourself get hungry. Drink lots of water as well, this will help too.

3. Retrain your brain

Several books can prepare you for sobriety by removing the psychological desire to drink, so you can give up easily and pain-free. These include Annie Grace’s ‘This Naked Mind’, Allen Carr’s ‘Easyway To Give Up Alcohol’ and “Alcohol Explained’ by William Porter.

By doing this, you should be able to breeze through the first few weeks as they have loads of useful tools to help you reframe alcohol consumption. This step is absolutely essential if you’re serious about sobriety.

4. Play it forward.

There will be times when the wine witch (or the beer monster) comes calling. You may forget all the reasons you gave up, and drinking seems like a really good idea. Remember at this point to play it forward. Recall how awful tomorrow morning is going to be, hungover with anxiety and dying about what you may have done the night before. Remind yourself of every depressing thing that alcohol brought to your life. As long as it gets you through this moment, that is good enough and you are free to enjoy your next sober day.

5. Tell only people that will support you

There will be people who truly want the best for you will be delighted you are taking this step to improve life. There will be some who are already in your life and allies who you will meet on your journey. These are your support system who will encourage, support and advise you. They are priceless.

There may be some people in your life not so supportive and may want you to keep drinking. Leave telling these people until you feel established in your sobriety. Tell them anything you like in the meantime, you are not obliged to give anyone an explanation.

6. Quit Lit

There are some amazing stories out there of people who have walked this path before you. Not only are they great reads, they are also really inspiring and will give you a road map to sobriety, filled with tips and potential traps to look out for. The best of the bunch is ’Sober Diaries’ by Clare Pooley and ’The Unexpected Joy of being Sober’ by Catherine Gray. You will feel like you are joining the winning team after reading these.

7. Find something that fulfills you or gives you a natural high

Exercise is the obvious one. I did loads of Clubbercise, yoga, and bigger and better dog walks on my journey. You will have tons of spare time and no hangovers, so make sure you use it to enhance and enrich your sober life. You can consider gardening, art, going to a new creative group, or even doing something you always dreamed of such as going back to study or taking up a new exciting hobby.

8. Find a Sober Tribe

This helps infinitely. There are lots of sober groups out there where you will find new friends that are also on the journey so you can support each other through it.

You will also find lots of people who are already at the finish line who can act as supporters, mentors, and give you loads of advice. What you will find with sober tribes is the activities are wildly diverse compared to what you did with your drinking mates. You will be kayaking, paddle boarding, sea swimming, zip-lining, having the time of your life. I honestly say that it’s my sober tribe that enriched my sober life the most.

9. Yoga and meditation

Calm your mind, feel super relaxed, get out of your head and into your body. This is helpful for those on the sober journey as it increases your feeling of wellness and takes your mind of everything, including alcohol. You will feel that you are taking steps to look after yourself, and your fitness and flexibility will be improved. All of which will help improve your self-esteem.

10. Treat yourself

You are about to have a lot more money. It’s not just the alcohol, it’s the takeaways, taxis, hangover food, replacing things you broke or lost when drunk. It all adds up, so treat yourself with your excess cash to some jewelry, an expensive pair of shoes, a massage, a spa day, or whatever you want.

This does 2 things. It gives you material proof that sobriety enhances your life, and it helps raise your self-esteem knowing you have replaced damaging and poisoning yourself with looking after yourself and treating yourself to nice things. This bit is ace.

So thats it. My top ten tips for sobriety. Good luck, let me know how you get on and what you found works best for you.

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