How to Boost Your Life in Sobriety
13 Magic Ideas to Boost Your Summer in Sobriety
by Susanne Johnson
Life in sobriety is not boring! It can be a thrill, lined up with fun activities. Lots of people in early sobriety have a lot of time on their hands. Many are still seeking for a new job, or are not yet feeling ready to go back to work or school since recovery takes up lots of time in their day. Sure, there are days that seem to be slow. You had to leave lots of using or drinking friends behind. The previous life consisted of drinking, drugging, sleeping, partying, recovering from those, or getting ready for one of the above. Now you feel at times lonely and bored, but it doesn’t need to be this way. Especially in summer we can do a lot when days are longer, temperatures warmer, people happier, and shadows and light are playing a symphony with the birds, flowers, and the wind. Sometimes it just needs a Popsicle to make a person happy in summer, but other days need some push and entertainment, some laughter and joy, some friends and some happenings.
I listed here 13 top activities that will boost your summer in recovery. And I hope I will see, in “join the conversation” under this article, a lot more appearing from all you readers. There is so much more to do and life in sobriety has lots to offer. Let’s get ready for a summer of excitement and an active, healthy lifestyle in recovery! Get some people in recovery together and plan activities. One of us has amazing force, but together we have formidable strength. Let’s get moving!
1) Hiking Trip
Everybody loves to go out for a good hiking trip. And not everyone who wanders is lost. But nobody likes to just walk around in the trees by himself. Organize a nice trip to a local park or nature trail, even a lake. It should have an easy to find parking lot to meet at and an interesting destination on the way or at the end. Instead of everybody bringing their own food, you can ask friends coming along for a $5 fee per person which will pay for the lunch. You can park a car at the destination with a cooler of soft drinks and plenty of food, or even ask one friend to be there with the lunch and have it ready to serve at a certain time. Plan a game for the duration of the trip or prepare a nature trivia and give points for right answers and have a small prize for the winner. Adventurous people can get together for an overnight camping trip. Don’t make the trip too long, be mindful of the people coming with you and ask about their abilities if you are not sure.
2) Sports and Exercise
Maybe you have not played any sports in recent years prior to your recovery, but it’s never too late to start again. Team or individual sports give a chance for exercise, an outlet for energy, and renewable entertainment. If you are not sure of a sport you like, try your hand at a few. Sometimes we have to kiss a lot of frogs before we find a prince! Go to the different recreational facilities in your area and ask who is offering public team sports or individual classes. Most likely you will find volleyball, basketball, softball and soccer being offered.
At the gym you can find out about fitness classes, boot camps, yoga or cross training. A membership at a gym gives you the advantage to go at any time, and a popular gym usually has several classes each day to choose from. People in recovery often seem to be exceptionally good runners, so why not download the free Heroes in Recovery Training Plan and see if that is your cup of tea. Take your best friend along and it will be fun, not work.
You could try some activities that bring you together with fun people. A day at the beach or at the pool can be entertaining and also relaxing. Rent a pontoon boat together and jump in the water when the sun gets sizzling. Boating doesn’t require drinking either, it works perfect in sobriety. A towable tube behind the boat makes it double the fun day.
Any form of exercise has one very great advantage for people in sobriety: People there are usually not drinking. Stick with the winners. If I go to a bar, I’ll be with people who want to drink. If I hang around at a good gym, I usually am with people who want to live healthy, active and sober. If others go for a drink after workout, we don’t have to go with them. Life in recovery offers the choice to be where we want to be and get what we strive for.
3) Group Hobby
Do you have already a hobby or always wanted to learn something particular? Ask around at meetings to see who is interested in the same field and start a hobby group. It could be knitting, crochet, jewelry-making, quilting, sewing, woodworking, baking, or even building an RC model. The possibilities are endless. If you need inspiration walk through a craft store and see what catches your eye. Your hobby group could also consist of a charity support goal, i.e. you could make jewelry to sell at a bazaar for charity. It’s a nice thing to do in summer sitting on someone’s back porch and enjoy the day.
4) Train the Green Thumb
Get out and get dirty! Gardening can be lots of fun and really therapeutic. Build a raised bed in your yard and make your own herbal garden. There is nothing sweeter than that homegrown basil on the tomatoes for dinner, spice up your fresh salad with your own tarragon, and throw some sage on your next BBQ fire. You can start raising your own seedlings indoors. It adds well to a healthy diet.
5) Food
Times are over where a jar of peanut butter, chips, coffee, and Nutella were the only things on my shopping list. We didn’t save our bodies from the poison of substances to continue harassing them with fast food and cans. It’s time to prepare good meals and take care of our health. It’s the time of fresh produce, berries and lots of cheap and good vegetables. People spend lots of money to put the most expensive oil in their cars, but get thrifty on food. Eat a well-balanced diet with lots of fresh produce. Your body will thank you with boosted energy. Cooking isn’t rocket science, get playing around with some easy recipes. Pay attention to your salt intake and your balance of carbohydrates, fat and protein. Any kind of fitness tracker that is connected to a program where you can log your food is very handy. It can tell you facts about your food and adds them up for the day, so you always see what you really consume and can make adjustments. Cooking classes are a great way to develop your skill.
6) Meetings
Meetings are not only a good place for 12-steppers, but a great place to meet people with the same interests and view on life. Don’t come five minutes before the meeting, be there early and leave late. Make use of the fellowship that is offered, finding other people who are living in sobriety and needing the same activity boost that you do. 12-step work can enhance your sobriety and find yourself new friends. Check your meeting finder for outdoor meetings in summer. If you don’t find one, get with your home group and create one.
7) Submit Oneself
The possibilities to volunteer are endless. You could go with your 12-step group to bring the meetings to inmates, help at the local animal shelter, or volunteer with a non-profit organization. It will give your life a new meaning. Pick your volunteer job according to your interests. If you love sports, volunteer at a charity run. If you love to help people, go to the food bank or check with an elderly home. Please don’t volunteer at the animal shelter if you think you are in danger in taking the next eight puppies and five stray cats home with you. And don’t volunteer at a summer camp if children drive you up the wall or you love to wear Prada pumps. There is a place and a job for every interest. If there is an election coming up within a half year in your state, your local candidates need volunteers to help with the campaign. If you are politically interested, that would be a great idea. A lot of counties have a ‘Drug Coalition’ and need volunteers to do drug awareness events with them. And of course, we from Heroes in Recovery need you to volunteer at our 6K runs across the nation.
8) Sober Sunday Afternoon
Organize a ‘Sober Sunday Afternoon’. Invite a handful of friends to your home and get creative. You can have board games prepared, outdoor games like corn hole or ladder ball, have some nice snacks and alcohol free cocktails ready, or have a yoga teacher coming, maybe some guided meditation tapes, have a canvas and paint for everyone, table tennis tournament, or make a big mosaic together. Whatever you decide, just make it a surprise! Set a time and tell your friends about any special things they need to bring (comfy pants in case you do some sort of yoga, for instance), but don’t spoil the surprise. You can either make a plan with your group in advance who hosts each week, or you can draw during the sober Sunday event the host for the next week.
9) Project
Organize a bigger and more complex project of some kind. You could invite people to participate in a paint workshop. Clarify the cost for material per person, invite a teacher, and get creative together. This art work could be exhibited at your local city hall, at a church, a Rotary meeting, or someplace similar to raise awareness for recovery. Make a banner explaining why you did this project and give out free pamphlets about drugs, addiction, or alcoholism that you can get from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and other organizations. If your artwork is somehow appealing, donate it to a fundraiser auction afterwards.
You could also organize a food drive, or be very specific and make a donation drive for jackets or gloves for a homeless shelter, sport shoes for a free recovery center nearby, or dry or canned for an animal shelter. Get together with some people and pile it up. Then go and donate it in the name of recovery. Raise awareness for recovery and do something productive for your community at the same time.
10) Church
While Church is always very helpful for those who believe in it and enjoy going on Sundays, you don’t have to be a strong believer, or even of this particular confession, to have church boost your recovery. There are always lots of activities going on in a church community, like a fish-fry, youth events, free supper for the needy, teenager trips, children camps, and more. Churches take trips or often have a choir or a band that needs another person. Maybe you can play with the children while the adults attend Bible Study. There is much more in churches going on than just attending the service on Sunday.
11) Photography
Teach yourself mindfulness by taking your camera, or at least your phone, along where you walk. There is always something nice to make a picture of. Make them for yourself or share them on Instagram or Facebook. You can also make a nice scrapbook of your first year in sobriety and print one picture each day that moved you.
Or give yourself a theme and go hunting for objects. Make a nice collage from all the pictures you take over time. You will be amazed how quickly your shots get better and how nice a collage of photos can be.
12) Push a Pencil
You don’t have to write a novel or a self-help book if writing is not one of your fortes. But everybody can write a blog, a journal or just a few short stories. You don’t have to be perfect, just be authentic and there are people who will enjoy reading what you wrote. Write just for yourself or for your child to read at an older age. You can write to your future self as well, or you can put your writings in a ‘time capsule’ with some other things and hide it for someone to find at a future time.
13) Hang Loose
When thinking about activities most people forget that relaxing is a needed form of spending time. Self-care in recovery is very important. You want to make sure to always get enough sleep and rest in general. Sometimes it’s just a great day to lie in a hammock in the backyard and read a book, be under the umbrella by the pool watching people having fun, or sitting in a street cafe with a latte or cappuccino with the world going by. Relaxing activities can also include a spa visit. Yes, also you guys can enjoy a sauna, a massage and some rest as well. It’s never a waste of time to lie under a tree in the grass and listen to the birds.
To Be Continued by…You!
Please leave a comment and share your idea. Just click on “join the conversation” and click on the Facebook icon to sign in or pick a name and comment as a guest. Your idea is important, let’s share our experience, strength and hope to increase our good times in sobriety this summer. Don’t be selfish, please share the link to this page so others can participate and spice up their recovery by getting ideas. To submit your story, please contact Susanne Johnson through e-mail or Facebook to get involved. Your story is important, someone needs to hear it.
We do recover!
Susanne Johnson