Making the decision to be sober is an easy one; it's the discipline to stay sober that's the hard part.
There are many programs out there to help individuals stay on the right track but if your mind is not in the right place, it can make it harder than it needs to be.
Keeping a positive attitude can be beneficial in all parts of your life, but it's not just thinking the right thoughts, the important part is to feel them.
You may be limiting yourself with old thoughts and beliefs; I'm not good enough, I'll never be sober, I can't help it, being an addict is in my genes.
It will take some hard work to replace these old beliefs with new positive ones, but it's definitely worth it.
The first step is to stop yourself when you find your mind going to a negative thought and replace it with a positive one.
When you're faced with a tough situation and your mind is telling you "this is too hard, you'll never stay sober" change it into the exact opposite using positive words and don't give the negative statement a second thought.
Tell yourself "staying sober is easy, millions of people can do it and so can I.
" Begin to use these statement several times a day regardless of whether you're having a negative thought or not.
This gets your subconscious mind thinking in the right direction and soon it will be second nature, just like riding a bike.
Once you're in the habit of saying positive affirmations, start putting feeling behind them.
Get the feeling you would actually have if you were living that scenario right now.
How would you feel if life was easy and being sober was second nature to you? If it's hard for you to imagine what that would feel like, just concentrate on feeling good.
Does thinking about your pet make you feel good? If it does think about that as many times a day as you need to stay in a positive attitude.
Make a list of all the things that put a smile on your face and keep it in your pocket to pull out when you need a reminder.
Once you get into the habit of feeling good, start combining your thoughts of being sober with that good feeling.
It's hard to feel something we've never experienced before but if you start with stating how you want your life to be in present tense and slowly work that good feeling into it, you'll start to see changes in your life.
Don't expect miracles overnight, after all, it took years for those negative statements to become engraved into you.
The final step is to believe that you can have the things you want.
Keep that belief with you at all times, even when you feel like giving up.
Remind yourself that if other people have what you want, you can achieve it too.