What is the key to staying clean and sober in recovery? Many people struggle to stay clean and sober, in spite of the fact that they may work hard in a 12 step program and attend daily meetings. In fact, many people who attend meetings continue to relapse on a daily basis. So what is the secret to recovery?

How do people actually stay sober?

Well the truth is that some of the best tips for how to stay clean and sober have to do with action based stuff. Now this may seem obvious at first but you have to realize that our minds actually want the opposite. We would love to believe that we can sit around and think about recovery and somehow get better by doing so. We would love to think that if we think about philosophy in recovery and how we should be living and are very contemplative that this will enhance our chances for success in sobriety. In fact, the only thing that matters is what actions we take in recovery, not in what thoughts we think. In fact the thoughts are almost completely irrelevant. Many people who think terrible thoughts and have constant thoughts of relapse manage to stay clean and sober just fine, because they actually put forth massive effort in trying to stay clean. It is the action that carries us through in addiction recovery, not our thoughts.

So if you are trying to get clean and sober then you should take action. In fact, take massive action and do a whole bunch of stuff to help with your sobriety. Go to meetings if that seems to help you. Go to them every day. Participate. Find a sponsor and use them, a lot. Get the literature and read it deeply; study it. Don’t just meddle in recovery, dive in head first if you want to make it!