Whether you’re starting your journey in sobriety or you’re just going through a rough time, there are times when you can feel as if you just want to drink or use. While there are several techniques that you can use to help you get over the craving, sometimes it is just easier to do something to keep yourself distracted while you get through it. Try these suggestions to help you get through those periods when you just can’t think of anything else.
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1. Stay Active
Go on a walk, take a run, do some yoga, or go to the gym. Ideally, leave the area where you have alcohol stored and go somewhere else. In addition to physically removing yourself from the area where you like to drink, being active will also increase your heart rate and release hormones that will make you feel better and support to keep you sober.
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2. Make a Fancy Beverage or Learn to Bake
Learn how to make gourmet tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. The rituals of creating a gourmet beverage can replace the ones associated with making a cocktail, which can help people who miss the rituals that surround their drinking. Baking and gourmet cooking are both ways to distract yourself with complex directions while having fun.
If You Want What We Have | Recovery Meditation Book – My 12 Step Store
This recovery meditation book is written as conversations between sponsor and sponsee. These daily meditations explore the concerns, dilemmas, and struggles involved every day in recovery.
3. Go Swimming or Take a Bath
Changing clothes and going to a new location, along with the physical activity of swimming, can be a good way to stay distracted. Having a massage or spa treatments.
4. Gardening and Home Improvement
This can become an ongoing project that can occupy a large amount of time and you can take breaks as necessary.
There are plenty of other activities that you can participate in to keep yourself distracted when cravings for a drink become bad.
The Home Group: Heartbeat of AA – My 12 Step Store
A collection of Grapevine articles illuminating the varied experiences of belonging to an AA group today.
5. Call someone from your support group
Calling a friend in recovery, your sponsor or possibly a therapist. This is where making a support list of phone numbers is very helpful. Many 12-step meetings have phone list for this very reason. Going to a meeting in person or on zoom. The point is to reach out before you drink or use drugs.
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A Guide to Choosing the Right Twelve Step Meeting for You Softcover, 116 pp. Author: James G. $ 9.95 in stock New
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