7 Mantras to Get You Through Your First Weeks of Sobriety
Before I got sober I didn’t believe in meditation, mantras, gratitude lists, or feeling your feelings. Frankly, I thought it was all bullshit. Could words make you feel better? Could visualization and affirmations really play a role in my sobriety? Spoiler alert: they can and they have. A mantra is a statement or slogan repeated frequently that can aid in concentration, promote thoughts and ideas, and center your mind and your life.
Getting sober might be the hardest thing you ever do. You’ll need all your tools at the ready to get you through those first few weeks when you feel overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, and helpless. Here are 7 mantras that can help get you through the first weeks of sobriety.
1. One day, one hour, one minute at a time.
One day at a time is a famous saying we hear about often when we talk about addiction and recovery. I know it might seem cliché at first, but it has a lot of truth to it and is useful, especially in early sobriety. I added one hour and one minute at a time because sometimes you’ll need to break down time into the smallest moments. Say to yourself, just for this one minute, this one hour, this one day, I will not drink or use.
2. I must reveal it to heal it
This is a tough one. Even in early sobriety I tried to sugar coat a lot of my drinking and using habits. I was embarrassed and ashamed, and stigma taught me I should still not reveal just how bad my addiction had been. When you get sober you have to look at not only your drinking and using habits, but why you drank and used, and old behavioral patterns that went along with the drugs and alcohol. It’s not easy to do, but what I learned is that you must reveal it to heal it. Once you give a name to your feelings and issues, you are free to heal them.
3. Sobriety is self-love.
This has been the defining mantra of my sobriety. During my addiction, I didn’t know what self-love was. I didn’t realize that sobriety is a form of self-love. When I finally decided to stop putting drugs and alcohol into my body I realized that in order to love myself I couldn’t abuse my body in that way anymore. This helps keep me sober, knowing I am staying true to my body and myself, showing myself love of the biggest kind.
4. Sobriety is freedom.
This is another one of my favorites that still helps keep me sober after 4.5 years. I never realized I felt shackled by my addiction until I got sober. I never realized I was giving up my choices while intoxicated until I saw the freedom sobriety gives me. Being in the right frame of mind and present while sober allows me to feel freer than I ever have in my life. I am no longer at the mercy of alcohol and reminding myself by saying what I know to be true – sobriety is freedom – helps me every day.
5. I am alive, I am present.
Sometimes our addictions take us to scary places. There were many times that I thought I wouldn’t wake up, or I hoped I wouldn’t. But I did, and in sobriety I always want to remind myself that I made it. I am alive and I am present every day that I wake up sober. This mantra tells us that we are the power to stay this way and to work through life as long as we are here and sober. It reminds me that I have another chance at this life because of sobriety and that is something I never want to forget. If I am not sober I can’t be present.
6. I believe in my path and myself.
This is an important one for your first few weeks of sobriety. It’s crucial that you start to empower yourself to live this lifestyle. Even if you don’t necessarily believe it right away, you can still practice this mantra until you do believe it. Believing in the path of sobriety and in yourself will enable you to stay the course even when it becomes tough. Knowing yourself, trusting yourself, and learning to trust your intuition are all big components of recovery. Saying this mantra is one way to start building it.
7. I am healing.
This is another one you will start saying before you feel it’s true. When I got sober, I didn’t realize I would need to heal. I thought I would just quit drugs and alcohol and everything would be fine. I’ve learned a lot and I now know I am healing from my addiction and from all of the trauma I’ve endured in my life. Sobriety is healing and healing is sobriety. Healing is a wonderful, empowering word and this mantra can help you dig in and move forward in your life.
About the Author
Kelly Fitzgerald is a sober writer based in Southwest Florida who is best known for her personal blog The Adventures of a Sober Señorita. Her work has been published across the web including sites like The Huffington Post, Thought Catalog, Ravishly, SheKnows, Elite Daily, The Fix, Brit + Co, Addiction Unscripted and AfterPartyMagazine. She is currently writing a memoir.
