After spending time in the strict environment of a rehab, sober houses are like a sigh of relief for recovering addicts.
Sober houses come with freedom, but limited.
Where sober houses provide a transitional lifestyle between recovery and normal life, they also put some restrictions just so you don’t deter from your path of sobriety.
If a person meets all the expectations and follows the rules, they run a chance of accelerating the process of sobriety.
So, it is important to know the Do’s and Don’ts of Sober Living House in order to stay true to the rehabilitation process.
Here are a few “Do’s” to get you by in a sober house:
1. Participate In Chores
One of the clear rules about sober houses is participating in house chores. Sober houses like this one makes chores fun so residents do not feel burdened with them.
The chores include running/emptying the dishwasher, cleaning electronics, mopping the house, mowing the lawn, doing laundry or cleaning the pool.
Apart from developing basic life skills, these chores are also designed to make residents aware of the importance of the community and their place in it.
2. Attend Group Support Meetings
You are in a sober house with the purpose of getting sober, right? So better get all the help you can while you’re at it.
One of the best ways to do that is to attend group support meetings. This sense of community and collaborative environment helps fight addiction better.
People can connect with each other and bond over their struggles and the obstacles they have overcome on their way to sobriety.
Observe Quiet Hours:
Addiction can cause sleepless nights and lazy days.
Anyone that has suffered from addiction can seriously mess up their sleep schedule, leading to insomnia and insomnia if goes untreated, can cause psychosis.
Study shows that people who have had recovery can still fall into psychosis and have to be admitted to psych wards all because of no sleep!
For this reason, quiet hours are observed at night in all sober homes to help the residents sleep.
Everyone is required to follow quiet hours and you can use them to meditate as well! Meditation is a great way to induce sleep.
Let’s see, what you can’t and shouldn’t do in a sober house!
1. Keep A Pet
It is understandable that you might want to adopt that really cute dog you saw on instagram, but unfortunately it is absolutely out of question!
Pets can be a great source of comfort and safety but they can trigger allergic reactions in other residents.
Due to other safety issues of residents and that of the pets (yes!!), pets are not allowed inside a sober living house.
2. Travel
A little road trip never hurt anyone! But it might if you are living in a sober house.
Firstly, there are strict curfews and you can only go out for your daily errands and be back before a certain time.
This rule is set to bring some sense of regularity and responsibility into your life.
Secondly, you never know when you might run into something that triggers your addiction especially if you’ve only recently finished rehab.
3. Addictive Substances:
Duh, obvious! Addicts can get off on almost anything addictive, like petrol, caffeine etc.
A lot of these things are found in everyday products like coffee, cigarettes, hair sprays, stove burners, sleeping pills, pain killers etc.
So anything and everything that even has the slightest hint of causing addiction or relapse is not allowed inside a sober living home.
The rules are harsh but they’re for the good of the residents.
Regular informed and uninformed drug tests are performed to check for any addictive substances on the residents and if found, the substances are removed immediately.
The purpose of setting rules in a sober living house is to regulate the life of the recovering addicts and that’s why there are certain things that can and cannot do while living there.
If you know the rules beforehand you can take care of any business you might have before coming to the sober house.