Fun in sobriety: I’m sober, now what?

When I came to Together We Can, I knew I would be fighting to give up drugs and alcohol, but I never thought I would have to learn new ways of relaxing and having fun. After all, hadn’t I been having fun during the years before I sought a drug-free life?

I hadn’t really thought of it like this. I used to think I had to have drugs and alcohol to have fun. It started with going out for a few drinks with friends, and ended up with me trying to piece together the last few days from fragmented memories and evidence of a trail of destruction. Reading through text messages, missed call logs, bank machine receipts trying to figure out where the ‘fun’ had taken me. Like many people in active addiction, my drug of choice became all consuming, and while I had originally started using for fun, it became a never ending rabbit-hole that took up all of my free time.

One of the things we need to learn in recovery is how to have fun sober. We spend so much time in our treatment stay figuring out who we are, how to undo the wreckage of our past, and how to make a life worth living, that an often overlooked part in a personal journey is what we can do to relax and enjoy our newfound sobriety.

Residents of Together We Can’s various programs go on a variety of outings that give them experiences to help discover themselves, bring them closer to each other, and learn different ways of having fun. This month, residents were taken rock climbing, bowling, gokarting, and also experienced Virtual Reality Gaming. Here are a few photos from our residents.

Originally published at https://twcrecoverylife.org on December 8, 2020.