How to live
A Clean And Sober Life
5 Tips To Stay Sober In Early Sobriety
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what's up guys five tips on how to stay
sober in early recovery
I know these work for me I cannot say
they'll work for everybody this is my
own subjective if you will personal
experience man I stuck to these five
tips on staying sober and it worked they
weren't called five tips on staying
sober when I did this these were just
things through my experience that I
picked up and if you watch my earlier
videos you'll find out if you're new to
the channel my name is Derek I have four
and a half years clean up all substances
I took an abstinent route that does not
mean that I'm against other routes I
just want to make that clear
but I'm gonna go ahead and jump right
into tip number one people how important
are people anyone that you ever listened
to that's like running multi-million
dollar businesses will tell you who you
surround yourself with is who you'll
become surround yourself around
successful people and you'll become
successful I've been to meetings all
sorts of recovery meetings and they
always say stick with the winners who
are the winners when you go to a
recovery meeting those who recovered
those who are with years of recovery and
know how to stay clean there are things
you have to do you can't just come off
the drug and not change things in your
lives if you're like me and stay clean
so this is the purpose of the video and
I'm gonna give you guys details as to
why these things work but also the tips
on what to do maybe if you're willing to
that'll keep you from relapse or going
back I surrounded myself around people
who wanted me to recover who wanted me
to get clean and when I did I saw the
results the results started to become
when I had a bad fall or I started
struggling or emotional trauma or
anything happened depression set in they
had my back they knew I needed love and
encouragement not discouragement they
knew hey I understand and most the
people are surrounded myself were also
like me except they succeeded and got
clean that's why it's vital to be around
people who are in recovery number two
are places if you're going around the
same places that you're buying your dope
from or the same doctor's office that
you know that doctor will write you that
script or whatever
and this doesn't go for people who know
how to properly use these things like
they might be prescribed a medication
that another person might be addicted to
I'm talking about you the person who
might be honest with themselves and
saying I'm probably addicted to these
things or I'm struggling and I can't
stop going around certain places
environments cause influence on us as
people no matter where you go eventually
an environment will cause and effect to
give you an example my brother was
shooting up okay he was really bad off
shooting up cocaine and I remember him
doing cocaine and heroin and he was so
bad off we all thought he was gonna die
absolutely there was no doubt in my mind
that he was soon to something had to
happen soon I went to his house he was
shooting up right in front of me I had a
goal on getting him into rehab he wanted
to go but he couldn't stop this vicious
cycle and he thought he was just too far
gone why stop it's easier to keep going
what most people in recovery would say a
scary place to be maybe I should have
brought someone with me people back to
step one it was an immediate emergency
and I went in to help my brother I got
him into rehab
he got 60 days fell off the wagon went
back out there this is so important that
you have an environment that's safe
because if the temptation comes if
traumas happen if stresses occur
god forbid you might find yourself
trying to leave or escape your mind and
how do we do that I know my problem
solver was opiates alcohol adderall you
name it I had a variety of substances
that I would take to escape reality
benzos
I wasn't hooked hard on them but they
helped me escape I would even take
ambien to go to sleep earlier and stay
up on purpose taking them and they made
me feel wacky all these things helped us
escape and I tried to escape
I want a temporary relief sexual things
may take a place - number three tip
number three this one is things there
might be things out there not just
places and not just people but certain
things in these places maybe around
certain people or maybe just things
themselves that trigger you for example
and I don't mean to do this but some
people look at my thumbnails that I've
had on my youtube channel they got
syringes they've got pictures of this
I don't trigger from that okay but I've
seen people shoot up in front me while
in recovery that's pretty gross
for some of you have never done that but
for people like me that was normal I
don't get triggered by those things but
you might and you might have to avoid
them you might notice habits someone's
doing that cause you to trigger there's
some things objects like my sister used
to say she's a meth addict right she's
recovery now she would look at foil and
spoons and things with shiny like
objects and they would trigger her they
would make her think about using so
sometimes early in recovery you gotta
avoid people places things this is tip
one two and three this is very important
this is basic 101 in recovery if you go
to rehab they're gonna suggest the same
stuff step number four relationships a
lot of people think this is a gray area
they're not so sure well I had gotten in
a relationship and it was successful I
ended up in a serious relationship
within the first year of recovery and it
was good for me now don't get me wrong
I get it I totally understand it could
work for you
the reason people want you to avoid
serious relationships and only focus on
yourself you are like a butterfly that
just became a butterfly you came out of
the cocoon you're in a very fragile
state
your emotions are already gonna be
tested now this is why it's difficult to
stay out of relationships in my opinion
early in recovery there could be other
factors that play a role but the factor
I want to play in is your hormones for
me as a man and I can't speak for women
but I suspect the same as true of their
estrogen my hormone spiked I don't know
where my body started to produce
hormones my testosterone on a level it
hasn't in a very long time I ended up
getting this testosterone boost early on
at some point during my recovery that
caused me to start to act irrational
I started thinking anger and I had a
little bit of like a temper my
testosterone caused me to feel that way
when my testosterone rises I as a male
I'm attracted to the opposite sex so I
have this drawl towards women I could
see how easily a man who's been
suppressing his
dosterone using whatever the substances
may be whether they're illicit drugs off
the streets prescriptions from doctors
could even be maintenance substances
like suboxone and when you're coming off
of these things your testosterone is low
and then all of a sudden boom a lot of
times it spikes and you start to see
that girl in that meeting or you start
to see that girl at work whatever it may
be
she looks attractive or he you go for it
and when you do a lot of times we've got
problems we have issues they find out we
have issues they don't like our issues
we don't like their issues a breakup
happens or something traumatic happens
or one of them relapses and the other
ones there with them and there's a
heartbreak now the emotions are running
now it's insane oh my god I've got to
feel numb I have to feel better I've got
a relapse and I had a friend recently do
that there's a lot of people that I know
that have had struggles with these
things and relationships don't get into
any serious relationships early and
recovery some people view sex in a
totally different light than others
there may be people who don't have to be
serious who are sexually active and they
somehow can separate the two it's just
like people in recovery who talk about
well I was addicted to cocaine or meth
and I wasn't addicted to alcohol I can
drink a beer and put it down hey I'm not
gonna tell you that you can't I know
people who can that's crazy I don't know
how I can't do it
I wish I knew how to drink a long time
ago I'm just not able to do it the same
way normal people do I'm not encouraging
you to go drink though I want you to
understand there are people who aren't
alcoholic with alcohol so to speak who
don't drink on purpose because they they
feel like once they have a beer like
having other stuff it opens the door for
them and that's what alcohol did for me
as well tip number five this is oh so my
personal experience okay I can't tell
you what yours is but you might relate
to me you might want to try these tips
while you're trying to detox while
you're trying to go through that first
month of all the emotional rollercoaster
and not even knowing what this world is
about you feel like you were just born
so on tip number five exercise and music
now exercise let me go with that and
then tell you about the music and why I
love
music and why it's so important for me
when I was early in recovery I'd get
angry quick I'd have these weird
emotional feelings when you walk they
say you're you're pushing both sides of
the brain okay
the rational and the emotional side are
both kind of going back and forth and
you alleviate that you're also releasing
and creating new endorphins and and your
body's producing chemicals it's also a
satisfaction but it's good for you too
it can release a lot of tension I had a
lot of tension when I was early in
recovery that's why they say exercise is
very good and it gets you actively
moving how often do I hear people come
to me and go dude I have no energy I
always equate it to a stick shift
five-speed car you know when you have to
start it and the battery's dead you put
it in first gear and you have someone
push you down a hill you put it in first
gear you got the clutch pushed in and as
you're going down the hill you let go of
the clutch and it kick-starts it it's
hard you got a push you don't want to
but once you do you can get that engine
started it becomes easier and that
energy naturally starts to come back for
most seeing a doctors vital in all of
these tips it's very important to see a
medical professional for this stuff just
to help you you know maybe a counselor
maybe a psychiatrist someone like that
exercise helped me and music I was four
days off heroin leaving this lady's
house and I was listening to these songs
that made me feel emotions I hadn't felt
in a long time I liked those emotions
this might be a trigger for things back
to number three and the reason why is I
know people who listen to certain songs
that make them want to relapse it's a
trigger it can be like my sister's
silver spoon or her foil music helped me
want to push forward but then again in
early recovery very early recovery I
only listened to inspirational
motivational good music I've been
married for almost 14 years to the same
woman
and I wasn't the best husband I was very
very bad off on this drugs so I
neglected her and neglected my kids so I
listened to music that made me look at
her and hold her by the head and say
baby I love you I want to be a better
dad I want to be a better husband I want
to be a better human being
I wanna be a better person for the whole
wide world and she accepted me for that
she knows that deep down I wasn't the
person I was acting like that I was
actually a good person these are the top
five things I personally think will help
anyone who's an early recovery stay
clean and eventually can get serious
time now some of these tips might slowly
be redefined by you as you become
stronger in your recovery but never lose
sight of what you can always return to
even while you're in recovery so that
you don't relapse okay am I in a bad
place is this relationship not a good
one should I focus on myself more am i
listening to this music that's
influencing me to use drugs because a
lot of hip-hop does that am i not
exercising and maybe I'm depressed
because I'm not being proactive in my
life and I feel like I'm stagnant and
I'm not really doing what I'm supposed
to am I around the right people are
there people who really want what's best
for me here do they have my interest in
mind if not I'm gonna find some people
these are selfish tips in some sense but
selfishness isn't always bad sometimes
selfishness is beneficial to the world
my dad told me one time you want to
change the world son change you that's
what he told me and at that point I was
trying to get clean he told me you only
have to change one thing and I said
what's that he said everything change
everything and all I'm saying today is
here's five five tips to help you change
everything I love you guys make sure you
guys hit that subscribe button hit the
bell I'll bring you guys more tips bring
you more ideas got a lot to cover and
I'm trying to keep this thing growing so
why don't you help me Derrick Lambert
