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What it means to be clean and sober
No matter what city you live in today, you are bound to encounter an alcoholic on the city streets. Some are easy to identify based on their appearance and the fact that many are living on the streets or homeless. Others, however, are not so easy to recognize. They may be the neighbor that lives next door or a corporate executive in suit and tie. The ones that are not that easy to identify are what we refer to as “functioning” alcoholics or those individuals who go throughout the day functioning and drinking alcohol at the same time.
There are many definitions or explanations for what the phrase “clean and sober” actually means. Being “clean” means that you are living substance-free (no alcohol or drugs) while “sober” initially means not intoxicated. However, the word sober also refers to a specific path that you are walking and a certain character or image that you maintain. This “path and character” was initially prescribed by Alcoholics Anonymous at the establishment of the organization in the 1930’s and is involved in the many 12 Step programs out there.
How to stop alcohol abuse, addiction, or dependency
Both of the types of alcoholic individuals mentioned in the above section all have one thing in common – at some point in their lives, they all made the conscious decision to start drinking and abusing alcohol. Ironically, making the decision not to drink alcohol is just as easy as making the decision that you are going to drink. The following will answer any questions you may have regarding how to stop alcohol abuse.
Avoid the temptation – at some point in time in one’s life, a person will be tempted to drink alcohol. This is the time to make the decision not to.
Substitute positive activities for idle time – another key way to stop alcohol abuse is to keep busy, especially if you are already developing a drinking problem.
Stop hanging out with individuals who drink – even if it is someone in your family, you should avoid spending a lot of time with them other than to convince them that they need to get help so they can stop alcohol abuse.
If you haven’t experimented with or started drinking alcohol – DON’T START!
Learn and understand all you can about the consequences of alcoholism – alcohol not only cause adverse effects to the individual it hurts the entire family in the long run and can have serious financial, legal, and social consequences as well.
Avoid those environmental “triggers” – this includes events, people, and places where alcohol drinking is always going on.
For more information on how to stop alcohol abuse, contacts the Freedom Center at the toll-free phone number listed above and speak with one of our addiction specialists.
