Are you able to maintain good mental health while staying sober?
It can be challenging and the threats of depression and anxiety are real and persistent. What tips and tricks can you use help? How can you fight back and fight for positive mental health?
If you or a loved one is looking for a guide on how to maintain good mental health while maintaining your sobriety, this read is for you.
Good Mental Health Tips and Tricks While Maintaining Sobriety
From classics to a few unusual ideas, there's something here for everyone to try. All 5 of these ideas might work for you or a loved one, or just a hand full of them.
The key thing is to try and push yourself to give your best effort in trying.
1. Get Moving
When you're stagnant, you give a lot more time for your mind to wander.
Research proves exercise can help your mental health, and not just for recovering alcoholics.
Get a gym membership. Find a route to run. Invest in a bike. Try on the speedo again.
Finding a way to get out and move will give your body something to work after and focus on rather than let your mind ask a hundred questions.
2. Tokens and Medallions
If you're battling alcoholism, it's good to have a community.
And one of the ways you can grow, represent, and challenge that community is by wearing AA medallions or tokens. Might sound kind of hokey at first, but there's some logic in this.
Having a charm bracelet that reminds you of all the hard work you've done is a great item to have on you when you're mind is your enemy.
You can look at it and see all the effort you've put in, and succeeded in, at fighting for sobriety. And others can see it too.
It's something people can comment on, encourage you in, and find their own hope with.
Your story is powerful, and AA tokens and medallions are a great way to show a chapter of it.
3. Write It Out
Sometimes your community is busy, or that person you hoped to spend a day with cancels.
Life happens.
But our minds try to tell us that it's something we did, it's our fault, or we're cursed.
A way to battle that type of an unhealthy mentality is to pick up a notebook and start journaling.
Write out your thoughts, your frustrations, your dreams. Then feel free to explore or free-write in a way that encourages you to be creative in a healthy way.
4. Press Pause
Take some time to step away from technology and enjoy your own company.
At times you might not love yourself, but spending time with just you and your jokes or wisdom or perspective can be healthy.
We recommend getting out of the house and going to a place that doesn't require you to do or buy anything. Just go be you, with you.
5. New Experiences
We love new experiences.
When was the last time you tried something new?
When your mind is your enemy, go push it to do something it's never done. Take an art class, join a karate club, learn how to underwater basket weave.
There's a whole world out there of possibilities!
More Ideas
We hope these five tips on good mental health will help you or a loved one. For more ideas and helpful tips, head over to our blog.
And if you want us to talk more on something else feel free to contact us. We're here to help you live sober, happy, and healthy!