We’ve made it. 2019 is finally upon us, and with every new year comes new opportunities to better ourselves, achieve our goals, and become the men we always knew we could be. Year one of the recovery journey can duly be one of the most challenging and rewarding years of our lives– and there’s no better time to get started than right now.
As a sober living facility in Los Angeles, many of our men come to us not just for help getting sober, but in order to work on strategies that will help them maintain their sobriety while living in one of the busiest, most populated cities in the world. There’s a lot of distractions here in Los Angeles, and our first year sober has to be the point at which we learn how to cope with these distractions safely and productively. Even though we’ve no doubt learned many strategies to beat addiction during initial treatment, the sober living environment provides us with the structure and support we need to transition back into the world with confidence.
Why is a sober living environment important for the first year?
Getting sober requires dedication, commitment, and hard work, and staying sober after initial treatment requires much of the same. One of the biggest reasons that the sober living environment is so useful is because it helps us jump a common first year hurdle known as PAWS, or post-acute withdrawal syndrome. Doug, a successful lawyer and family man that battled addiction and graduated from initial treatment without incident, indicated just how hard PAWS was to deal with when he tried to make the transition from initial treatment to life at home on his own. Like many, he was confident that he was prepared for life on his own after learning to manage addiction and control cravings through initial treatment, but was in for a bit of a surprise.
“But I wasn’t [ready],” he explains. “Instead, I just got depressed, and the depression made me feel like if I drank maybe I would feel better. I knew rationally that wasn’t the case, but even after the physical cravings were gone, I just felt too raw to deal with life.”
The sober living environment helps us combat PAWS by helping us build confidence in our abilities, gain independence, learn accountability, and, most importantly, grow with a support system of men that are in the same situation we’re in. When people think of getting sober here in Los Angeles, the first thing they seem to think is that it means either no more fun, or constant fear of falling back into the same self-defeating thoughts and habits that caused them to drink in the first place. With sober living, however, that couldn’t be farther from the case. We help our men jump the PAWS hurdle in their first year by showing them how easy it is to live a substance-free life boldly and unashamedly.
The sober living environment is also very important for the first year of recovery because it provides us with a platform to learn and grow from our mistakes with the help of mentors and brothers that understand us and have our best interests at heart. Getting sober isn’t a process meant to be undertaken alone. That’s why most addiction treatment facilities here in Los Angeles and practically everywhere else rely heavily on the concept of group therapy, outings, and events. We know how important the recovery community is in treatment, and it’s even more important immediately after we leave initial treatment. The fact of the matter is that while it would be nice to return home to an environment that immediately understands what we’re going through and knows exactly how to help, that’s not always the case. Sometimes, even when family members and loved ones back home are well intentioned and want to genuinely help– as is often the case– there can still be a bit of a learning curve as they attempt to adjust to our new way of life. With the range of emotions, PAWS, and other first year hurdles to navigate, it can be extremely comforting to transition to an environment that knows exactly what we need to not just make it through our first year of getting sober, but to excel.
2019 really can be our best year ever, and not just because we’re committed to getting sober. Being our first year of recovery as men here in Los Angeles, 2019 can be the year that we become the men that we’ve always wanted to be. The journey to eternity starts with a single step, and that single step is taken here, in the first year of our recovery. By getting plugged into a sober living environment like The Last House, we can be confident that that step is a step in the right direction.
The Last House is a men’s sober living facility in the heart of Los Angeles. We believe that recovery is a lifelong process, and we provide our men with the tools they need to conquer addiction and live life to the fullest each and every day. There couldn’t be a better time than the start of the new year to make a pledge to live sober. Whether you’ve just graduated from initial treatment or are looking for a program to get back on the right track, The Last House is here to help. Call us at 1-866-677-0090 to get started today.