5 New Year’s Resolutions for Addiction Recovery

If you’re making resolutions this year, consider these New Year’s resolutions for addiction recovery to help you stay on the road to long-term sobriety all year long.

Making New Year’s resolutions gives you an opportunity to evaluate the year you’re leaving behind and make goals for the coming year. This year, making New Year’s resolutions for addiction recovery can help strengthen your recovery and keep you on the road to long-term success. 

But making resolutions should be a careful process. Resolutions can be hard to keep, and you want your New Year’s resolutions for addiction recovery to be specific, actionable, and sustainable. Think of your resolutions this year as a daily recovery checklist, and strive to make good on each resolution every day. But if you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up. Remember that it takes time to develop healthy habits, and if you strive to meet your goals most days, the cumulative effect will help you stay in recovery during the new year.

Here, then, are five New Year’s resolutions for addiction recovery.

1. Go to a meeting.

One of the best early sobriety tips for people new to recovery is to attend a support group meeting every day. Research shows that support groups like Alcoholic or Narcotics Anonymous and Smart Recovery not only offer peer support to help you through rough patches, but they also provide a higher level of personal accountability.

In the new year, strive to attend a meeting every day. You’ll come away stronger in your sobriety and ready to take on the challenges coming your way. You’ll also have the opportunity to help others who are new to recovery as well as develop healthy relationships with other non-users.

2. Meditate.

Daily meditation has been shown through a large body of research to be effective for improving your mood, increasing your mindfulness and self-awareness, and reducing stress. As far as New Year’s resolutions for addiction recovery go, meditating for 20 to 30 minutes each day can make a big difference in your stress levels and your personal commitment to recovery.

To meditate, simply sit quietly, and focus on your slow, steady breathing. Clear your mind of all conscious thoughts. When thoughts do come into your head, simply acknowledge them without guilt or anxiety, and let them float away, turning your attention back to your breath. It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, meditation will likely be your favorite part of the day.

3. Exercise.

Your daily recovery checklist should include 30 minutes of exercise, which helps reduce stress, improve your mood, and reduce the intensity of cravings. It also improves your overall health and sense of wellbeing.

The Centers for Disease Control points out that you don’t have to do all 30 minutes at once. Rather, if it’s easier or more convenient, you can break it down into three ten-minute increments. Find an exercise you enjoy, whether that’s riding your bike, swimming, dancing, taking a walk, or going for a run. The more you enjoy the exercise, the more likely you’ll be to stick with it.

4. Eat healthy food.

Eating a healthy diet is one of the early sobriety tips that is paramount to successful recovery. Healthy food improves your mood, your sleep, your concentration, and your overall health. Strive to eat a diet that’s mostly plant-based, along with lean proteins like poultry, pork, and fish. Stay well-hydrated each day to ward off cravings, fatigue, and irritability.

5. Keep a journal.

A journal helps you identify and sort through your emotions and experiences, and it gives you a record of recovery to look back on to help you measure your progress. Every day, jot down some notes in your journal, including. You don’t have to write a novel–a few sentences about how the day went, how you feel in recovery, and what’s been on your mind is enough to help improve your overall mindfulness and promote a higher level of self-awareness.

Staying committed to your resolutions each day will bring you closer to long-term recovery, and it’ll help you stay motivated in your sobriety for a happy, healthy new year.

If you or a loved one needs help with abuse and/or treatment, please call the WhiteSands Treatment at (877) 855-3470. Our addiction specialists can assess your recovery needs and help you get the addiction treatment that provides the best chance for your long-term recovery.