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Old 01-17-2020, 06:10 AM
  # 9 (permalink)  
Aellyce
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
I would also second incorporating some face-to-face recovery meetings so early in your sobriety. There are quite a few different kinds, including meetup.com groups, and you could try any or all of them, vary them if you prefer, depending on the location. It can actually be an interesting part of cultural exploration as well.

The other programs such as movies, learning, art etc are good and healthy activities, but doing only those will only help keep your focus on recovery if they are new activities for you and not ones you are already used to doing also in your alcoholic lifestyle. It is also quite likely that you will find them a bit boring on their own, relative to drinking. Basically, the idea would be to occupy your free time with things you enjoy but are a break from your normal routine, so that your brain will start to associate the new sober lifestyle with new activities that are rewarding and help maintain a sober discipline. SR and other online communities are great but only if it is sufficient to keep you away from drinking while you are engaging.

And if you find this traveling lifestyle challenging and too triggering, I would even consider breaking the contract or at least stopping when it ends in a few months. I know how hard that is because, in part, I also work as a freelancer, sometimes on short-term contracts, and it is usually not appealing to break/lose a good gig. But you can always look for and find new jobs but we only have one life, and if it is destroyed by drinking, no professional excitement will recover that. So many addicts only get in that mindset after losing everything and it is so much more difficult to rebuild from scratch, especially if you make your health compromised as well.
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