Amber HollingsworthRecovery Conversation Simulator, Amber's Recovery Practice Lab · Interactive learning tool trained on Amber methodoloy

Early Sobriety Tips For Success (Planning for recovery) - Recovery Concepts #3

4 May 2019 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:05

A short YouTube talk by Amber Hollingsworth about early sobriety planning. The speaker emphasizes that people must deliberately plan how to avoid drinking or using—especially early in recovery—and gives a concrete example (packing gym clothes in the car) to illustrate how small, pre-made routines can close relapse windows. The message: invest as much planning energy in recovery as you once did in sustaining addiction.

Chapters

You know what? I know you spent a lot of time planning and scheming and thinking about how you were gonna do whatever you were gonna do in your addiction, how you were gonna get your alcohol or your drug or whatever it was. You spent a lot of time thinking about that. You gotta spend time thinking about how you're not gonna drink or you're not gonna use, especially in the beginning. You might not be planning to relapse, but if you don't have a plan on how you're gonna stay sober, you're probably not staying sober. One of the clients we used to have in our intensive services program, he used to tell me that, like, if he put his gym clothes in his car before he left for school or work or whatever it was, that he knew he wasn't going to drink that day. But if he didn't put them in there, then it was sort of like an option, because it's like, I just don't have a plan for sure for the afternoon, which opens that window up. And you have to plan for your recovery with the same amount of effort that you put into planning and scheming on how to get by with all of it before.