Tommy Recovery Coaching

Understanding Sobriety: Goals, Strategies, & Lifelong Benefits

In the middle of the 2024 NCAA football season, the head coaches of two of the highest-ranked teams in the Associated Press poll spoke to ESPN about their journeys to sobriety. Both men recovered from alcoholism. Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss explained that sobriety feels like freedom, while Steve Sarkisian of the University of Texas said it allows him to persevere. These two opinions illustrate what sober lifestyle coaches explain to their clients about goals, which can differ despite being ultimately positive for everyone.

Core Goals of Sobriety

Sober lifestyle coaching has been in the news media spotlight for a few years now. The general interest comes from the “sober curious” movement of young adults who want to explore moderation or abstinence. Both are part of the core goals of sobriety, which extend to better health, personal growth, increased self-esteem, stronger relationships, and a more fulfilling life. What many of these sober-curious individuals realize as they’re coached by specialists, such as professionals who provide support for sober recovery Carlsbad addicts can trust, is that sobriety is about living a peaceful and meaningful life.

Short-Term Goals

Many people who recover from addiction feel sobriety is the factor that allows them to complete their journey to recovery. An early aspect of recovery involves setting goals they can achieve daily or weekly. They can be as simple as making it through the day without getting drunk or high. Each goal should be treated as a milestone, and it should be rewarded with a mini-celebration that could be as quiet as patting yourself on the back. If the rest of your life is defined by these small achievements, sobriety will eventually set in.

Long-Term Goals

Sobriety is rightfully romanticized by those who achieve it, particularly after severe addiction, but it’s also highly practical. If you adhere to a sober living plan, which is at the heart of sober lifestyle coaching, you should include long-term goals for practical aspects of life, such as housing, employment, counseling, wellness, stress management, and developing coping skills to effectively handle a crisis.

Avoiding Substance Abuse & Toxic Behaviors

Two people recovering from addiction may have different ideas about sobriety. However, they’ll both agree their lives will be improved as long as they can avoid the substances, factors, and behaviors that fueled their addictions. Sobriety cuts deeper than this conscious avoidance. For most people, it involves making specific life changes, and this is what sober lifestyle coaching seeks to achieve. 

Not all sober-curious clients are on the verge of addiction. Many are still on their journeys to recovery, which they feel have become a daily grind. To achieve sobriety in the way the two NCAA football coaches mentioned above did, you’ll have to learn about situational awareness and mindful reasoning. To a great extent, sobriety happens when you fully understand the root issues that resulted in substance abuse. If you make this your ultimate recovery goal, sobriety will feel easier to reach. 

While many people who fall into substance abuse can start to recover on their own without the help of an interventionist, Carlsbad addicts can get a great deal of benefit from working with experienced sober coaches. For strength-based support with sober recovery, reach out to the trained recovery coaches at Sober Lifestyle Coaching. Our goal is to offer our clients maximum recovery support, especially in the first fragile days or weeks of early recovery. If you’re looking for extra addiction recovery support so you don’t risk relapse when you head into the danger zones, we’ll work with you to put together a game plan to keep you safe and sober as you accomplish your goals. To learn more about how we can help you or someone you love, call us today.