Want to get sober in 2016? Start here with these 10 tips.

1. SURRENDER IT.

As you walk this path, no one thing will help you more than this: you have got to surrender to it. To the process. To the fact that there is an intelligence working in your favor far superior to what you can begin to imagine. To the idea that you are always held, surrounded, and supported. If you continue to step out of your own way, believe that you are exactly where you are meant to be (even when it feels like you are exactly the opposite), hand over the things you cannot handle to the Thing outside of you that can (God, the Universe, the Creator, Love — whatever the fuck you want to call it), and TRUST — you will be okay (because you are always okay — even right now, right this second). Let your prayer be “show me the way” over and over and over again. Until all you can think are those words. Note if this entire concept makes you hulk, read this post on Atheism and sobriety.

2. THANK AND FORGIVE.

The first thing I tell my clients is to thank their drinking, because on some level, it’s most likely saved them from other ills. Before I knew any better, alcohol and pot saved me and helped me manage my life. Until it didn’t anymore. And holding myself in some sort of guilt over being weak or flawed or “not like other people” or beating the shit out of myself for using something that alleviated the pain and relief until I found the right way didn’t get me anywhere. It in fact just caused more guilt and pain and kept me stuck in a vicious cycle. So start by forgiving it, forgiving yourself, and honoring that you have done your best with what you’ve had. You undo past mistakes not by holding yourself in guilt over them or going back, but by stepping forward. And kindly so. If you need even more help forgiving it, here is a great Gabby Bernstein video on how to move past mistakes and guilt in addiction.

3. FUCKING MEDITATE.

Every day. Without fail. For at least 10 minutes. In the early parts of recovery, try for 30 a day. Hell, try 60 a day. Make sure and incorporate some breath work and some chanting (Kundalini is a great way to go). Here is an article on my favorite resources and here is an article on how to start. You can also search this website for Kundalini meditations and practices. A lot of people like to say they don’t have time to meditate. To this I say, “but you found the time to drink, right?” and drinking? It takes up a SHIT TON of our time. If you have time to drink, you have time to meditate.

4. EDUCATE YOURSELF.

In order to live a different way, you have to learn a different way. Cognitive understanding of what is happening to you physiologically and neuro-physiologically, psychologically, spiritually, existentially, and so on, is one of the best ways to get a grip on it. I recommend reading John Dupuy’s Integral Recovery, Allen Carr’s The EasyWay To Control Alcohol, and watching Dr. Kevin McCaully’s Pleasure Unwoven to start.

5. GET SUPPORT.

Begin building a support team. Try an AA meeting or some other 12-step meeting if it feels right (I suggest everyone try it at least once before making up their mind about it). Go to a yoga studio or meditation group and get to know those around you. Find a counselor. Find a doctor. Find a massage therapist, a yoga instructor, like-minded friends on the same path, an acupuncturist. Use online resources like Women For Sobriety or Hello Sunday Morning. Find support in any way you possibly can. And don’t be afraid to ask for it from those you trust.

6. BE CARE-FULL.

Engage in EXTREME SELF CARE. Take a lot of baths. Drink a lot of water and eat healthy food. Do a lot of yoga and get plenty of exercise. Get lots of sleep. Splurge on the massage. Listen to soothing music. Get outside. Laugh. Sleep! Take care of yourself like you would a small child (this includes forgiving yourself!!!).

7. BUILD A TOOLKIT.

Alcohol is a coping mechanism. A terribly unhealthy one, but a coping mechanism none-the-less. And so it goes that you will need to build an arsenal of healthy coping mechanisms. Create a list of 10 things you can access when you are wound up or in crisis. A specific meditation or breathing exercise, smelling an essential oil, a specific tea or herb, a specific friend, a prayer or quote or mantra, journaling, a quick yoga move or exercise. My personal toolkit includes doing10 Long Deep Breaths, this meditation, Yogi Kava-Kava tea, Tulsi tea, rubbing lavender oil on my palms and deeply inhaling, picking up my copy of A Course In Miracles and flipping to any page, taking a bath with epsom salts, and doing a headstand. Literally write the 10 things down on a list and refer to that list when you are worked up and want a drink, and do the healthy thing instead. (Imagine opening up a toolbox and not finding alcohol, but only these 10 things). If you want to go totally nuts, read this post on How To Build A Toolkit.

8. BECOME MIRACLE MINDED.

Doing May Cause Miracles by Gabby Bernstein is a great way to begin to shift your perception and open yourself up to a different way of being in the world. It is also a great way to clear your fear. Make sure and get the guided meditations that go along with it (they are staples in my regular meditation practice.) Read here for how May Cause Miracles helped me.

9. GET JOYFUL.

One of the first things I did — long before I stopped drinking for good — was incorporate joy in my life. This meant I got up in the morning and danced naked in my apartment and sang at the top of my lungs — even when I felt like I wanted to die. This meant I bought a trampoline and rainbow light for my work space. This meant I did things that brought the spark of life into my existence in any way possible. Do NOT underestimate the power of joy. A great book for this isAwakening Joy by James Baraz.

10. WALK THROUGH FIRE.

At the end of the day, your success depends NOT on how perfect you execute recovery from addiction. It depends on the lengths you will go to for it. I love the line from the SIA songElastic Heart, “I walk through fire to save my life.” Because that was exactly what recovery was for me. It wasn’t about quitting alcohol and drugs. It was about walking through fire to save my life. To save myself. There was nothing I wouldn’t try, nothing out of scope, no task too small or too great. At the end of the day it was that my life was worth saving, and that I would do any fucking thing to save it, that pulled me out.