760-216-2077
Every year, thousands of people who live in California get a DUI. It’s one of the most costly consequences of alcohol abuse, yet incredibly common. Many people in recovery initially get sober due to a DUI and stay sober because it improves their lives immensely.
For fines and court costs, California DUI fines can cost you anywhere from around $400 all the way up to $5000, depending on your conviction. Costs of a DUI can range depending on the circumstance when you were arrested. Here are a few scenarios that can impact your fines:
Aside from fines from a DUI conviction, you will probably incur other costs if you’re charged with a DUI. If you have a job, you’ll have to pay for your own attorney, which can cost upwards of $1000. You’ll probably have to pay for your own transportation on public transportation, Uber, or taxi to get to work. If you can’t pay for these things, your family may have to help you pay them, or you will stay in jail until trial.
Alcohol addiction is a serious disease that can cause a lot of wreckage in your life. You don’t have to be alone! You CAN recover and learn to thrive in a community of people focused on recovery.
Sober living is a great experience where you can make new friends with others who share your goals and understand your experiences. Our residences are located in a walkable area with plenty of transportation and access to meetings.
Learn more about our communities by calling us at 760-216-2077.
Many people who get sober did so in the beginning because of legal troubles. The courts often sentence people with a DUI to 12-step meetings, drug education, fine and/or rehab. Not everyone who gets a DUI will change their ways. If you are sick and tired of the consequences of your alcohol use, you are more likely to seek recovery.
Once you have been sober for a while, you'll start to look forward to the future again. Drug treatment, therapy, and 12-step meetings provide you with a new strategy for life. However, even once you have completed rehab, you will still have to live with the consequences of your addiction. And if you have a DUI, you will also need to do what the government asks to comply with your probation.
One thing that living with a DUI conviction can teach you is humility. Yes, you are sober now, but the consequences of your alcohol and/or drug use are apparent every day. Staying sober is the only way to avoid getting a DUI or drunk-in-public charge. And that makes the future up to you!
Being humble, asking for help, and doing what the court requires are critical aspects of your life in recovery. You're responsible for the damages you've caused and the laws you've broken. As a responsible member of society, it's up to you to accept this and do what is required to regain others' trust.
Recovery is full of ups and downs. After you've completed the bulk of your treatment program, you may feel different and healthier. However, you can't expect family, friends, and society to believe you have changed without proof. It will take time to grow your relationships and regain trust. Taking responsibility is an essential aspect of this.
After a DUI, you will probably be on probation and have conditions to meet before you are allowed to get your driver's license back. If it were your first DUI, you'd be without your license for six months. Subsequent DUI's and offenses combined with it (such as a controlled substance or aggravated DUI), will cause you to lose your license for longer.
Go to the meetings your probation officer requires. Call when you are supposed to. Check-in with your sponsor and work on your recovery program.
While it may be a challenge to deal with these consequences, they are YOUR consequences. If you owe fines, it's up to you to find a way to pay them. (And if your family pays them for you, it's your job to pay them back, no matter what!)
While you may feel like your DUI has held you back from some things in life, this too shall pass. In some cases, you may even be able to get a DUI expunged from your record.
Getting where you need to go is one logistic you'll need to overcome in recovery. It will be humbling to ask for rides or take Uber rides for long distances. However, you can also get along fine in the California weather without a car at all. Skateboard, jog, or bike wherever you choose once you're out of rehab. AA meetings and NA meetings are currently online due to COVID-19.
Ask for help when you need it, and keep doing the right thing for your recovery! Time will make all the difference. One thing for sure: You'll never get another DUI as long as you stay alcohol and drug-free.
Are you looking for a safe and friendly sober living home? By the Sea is a great community to support your sobriety, with lots of public transportation nearby and centrally located to lots of jobs and schools. Read about how our sober living home supports DUI offenders here.
The support of others in your household can help you learn to live life on its own terms. Learn more about the benefits of sober living by getting in touch at 760-216-2077.
Recovery is a lifestyle you must adhere to year-round. Different times of year bring different experiences, and you must get through them to stay sober! The winter months may feel difficult or emotional for the first few years you're sober. Today, with the complication of the coronavirus pandemic, life can sometimes feel like a struggle.
Few people feel like winter is their favorite season. If you're like many people, you may find yourself in the doldrums or suffering from seasonal affective disorder, a form of depression brought on by the changing seasons. With less sunlight and colder weather, humans naturally turn into homebodies. In recovery, however, isolation can quickly turn into loneliness or depression.
There are also other reasons that people feel like winter is hard in recovery. Many people also associate the winter months with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years' holidays. Of course, holidays can be challenging times for people in recovery. Sometimes you'll feel quite emotional about the past or even feel triggered by it.
For many reasons, winter can be a challenging time for people in recovery. This winter may even seem a little more difficult due to the ongoing emotional and economic strains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking care of yourself and focusing on your recovery is an integral part of the game plan. Here are some ideas to help you lift your spirit every day.
If you live in a warm climate, you won't have to deal with the cold. Yet there are still some effects that you have to cope with during the winter months. Holidays, shorter days in general, and less activity are all things that seasons have in common coast-to-coast.
Consider Sober Living
Have you thought about living in a sober home? Living among other people in recovery can help you have a sense of stability. Learn more about what options are available and how we can help by calling us at 760-216-2077.
Patience and tolerance are two spiritual principles that are encouraged throughout recovery. Patience is a trait that is very useful not only in recovery but for life in general.
When you first get sober, you will be a person who receives the benefits of patience and tolerance. You may not know how to act or need guidance at meetings.
Maybe you speak out of turn or on a topic that you have no experience with. It happens to new people a lot! You don’t know a lot about staying sober when you’ve got 30 days clean. So others might gently shush you and tell you to keep coming back! This is an exercise of patience and tolerance.
Instead of lecturing you, people with more time sober will help guide you. This can be painful for you, and you may slip up or make a poor decision. Yet the 12-step room will still love you and welcome you back.
Patience and tolerance go hand-in-hand; you really can’t have one without the other. With these principles, you can act with love and kindness.
For many people, especially in the era of COVID-19, life has slowed down a lot. Things that once took an hour may take a lot more time due to fewer resources. You may have to wait in a long, socially-distanced line to get your medications or even get into the market to buy groceries.
Getting sober and doing detox also require a patient mindset. You’ll also have to tolerate the detox period – and other people in there with you – before you can go to a treatment center to get your help. You have to accept every delay and appointment. You stay patient because you hope things will get better, and you’ll get sober.
You may not even realize that you’re patient when you’re doing these things.
Once you get sober, you’ll become more tolerant of others as well as yourself.
In treatment, you may have other people in a group that get on your nerves or share an experience that you can’t relate to. Being patient and tolerance means you listen anyway. If it’s the person who is speaking that makes you feel less tolerant, try closing your eyes and listening as if you don’t know them at all. Pay attention to the message instead of the messenger.
When you are exercising patience and tolerance, you can become more open-minded. You’ll also start to give yourself a break and be less judging of your own mistakes. All of this leads to more peace and serenity. Recovery is a beautiful thing!
Living with others in recovery can help you continue your journey while in a stable, spiritual, recovery-focused environment. You can live close to the beach while reclaiming your life! Get in touch at 760-216-2077 to learn more about how we can help.
COVID-19 has changed the way people live, work, and socialize across the globe. It hasn’t been easy for anyone. As time passes, it’s become clear that our lives have all changed for the time being. Everyone has had to take this new “normal” one day at a time.
People still need to socially distance. As human beings, this is contrary to our nature. Online AA meetings and group therapy have become one way people can reach out to one another. However, it’s hard to imagine that this is genuinely a new lifestyle.
No one knows how long this crisis will last or when the unrest in some parts of the country will end. It’s a scary time, and that’s okay to talk about and feel. If you’re in recovery from addiction, you have probably experienced some not-so-normal lifestyle. It’s important to remember; this, too, shall pass.
Today, you can still take care of yourself even when things aren’t perfect. You’re a resilient human being, and you can get through this. Self-care is important. So is reaching out to others in recovery, and finding ways to be social and safe at the same time.
You can practice acceptance by praying, meditating, crying it out, or writing about it. Accepting the fact that we have no idea how long this crisis will last is essential. Accepting it doesn’t mean you’re happy about it. It simply means you know you can’t personally change it.
You’re not in control of this pandemic, but you can choose to stay sober through it. As a person in recovery, you can stay sober if you use the tools you have. A sponsor, a strong support network, and online support meetings will help you stay connected to the world. You’re not alone.
As mentioned earlier, self-care is an integral part of daily living in this new pandemic culture. Self-care will help you have something to enjoy and hold onto. It’s an excellent time to learn to nurture your spirit and really let yourself experience new things.
Here are some ideas:
Consider Sober Living
Are you interested in learning more about sober housing? Many people need the structure and safety of sober living once they’ve left treatment. We offer friendly, safe, and therapeutic housing to people new to recovery. Learn more about your options by calling us at 760-216-2077.
Recovering from addiction is a process that takes some time to adjust to. For many people, it means giving up friendships with people they used to drink or use drugs with and finding a new community that is supportive and caring. This community-building takes time, like many things in life. You may find that loneliness creeps up from time to time to rear its ugly head while you’re new to recovery. How can you cope with this feeling, and is it normal?
Especially today, when we’re all facing the COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness is a powerful yet common/normal emotion. Leaving behind your old life will be hard at first, but you’ll soon have more friends. As a person in recovery, however, you have more options than you used to. Addiction treatment will help you build new friends who also can function as a supportive community.
A supportive community is a significant part of being sober. Once you’ve connected with others in recovery, you’re not alone anymore. You also have the benefit of other people caring about you and offering experience, strength, and hope when you need help and advice.
In recovery, you’ll need to surround yourself with people who understand where you’re coming from. You may feel lonely, even when other people surround you. Again, this is normal, but coping with it can be difficult.
Coping with loneliness means putting yourself out there and connecting with others. In early recovery, this can be hard, but you can do it. Here are some ways to start to change lonely feelings:
Recovery is precious and a gift you must continue to work on keeping. Living with others in sobriety can help you keep the focus on your needs, living life sober, and working toward your individual goals. At Sober Living San Diego, you’ll find a community of others who can offer not only a home but lasting relationships in recovery. Call us at 760-216-2077 to learn more about what we offer.
In recovery, you will spend a lot of time thinking and talking about the past. After all, that’s what brought you into recovery in the first place. Poor choices and addictive behavior are things you can dissect and learn from, so you can change your life patterns. However, there always comes a time in recovery when you want to start looking forward to the future. Planning for your future can be an essential way to begin to change your life. Even when you’re forced to cope with uncertain times, such as COVID-19, there are ways for you to continue to change your life.
When you were a kid, you probably had a dozen answers to what you wanted to do when you grew up. Addiction probably wasn’t something you could foresee. While COVID-19 may have seemed to stall some recovery plans, sometimes when there’s a will, there’s a way.
If you’re new to recovery, your goals are often simple. You probably want to repair relationships, stay sober, and establish a new job or career. For many people, this means therapy (which is available on the phone or online.) A therapist can also help you create other goals for the future as time moves on, and you get more time in sobriety.
Choosing a new path can be tricky, so it may help to visualize it. What does the perfect future feel like? Close your eyes. Who are you spending time with? Where do you live? What are you doing for work?
If you’re not sure what goals you have for the distant future, talking to a sponsor or your peers can help you. Often you’ll find that somebody who has several years sober is living your dream life. So it also helps to pay attention at 12-step meetings. Ask around if you are looking for some inspiration for a specific goal you have in mind. Others will be happy to explain how they went about it.
One day at a time, you can start to work toward your goals. For example, if you realize that you have always wanted to be a chef, you now have time to figure out how to make that happen. While COVID-19 has affected our lives, it’s not impossible to search out new goals.
Research is the first thing you’ll want to do to learn more about the steps to make your goals happen. If you’re looking for a job, you’ll need to be able to use the internet to learn more about the requirements and credentials for a job. For a person who hopes to be a chef, this may mean getting a basic food handling certificate. (For example, the city of San Diego allows you to earn this certificate online for a small fee.) Or maybe you want to buy a new car. Searching for a safe, part-time job may require scouring help wanted ads. You can even learn to meditate or program computers online, usually for free or a small fee.
If you are looking for opportunities to change your life, they haven’t gone anywhere. You just have to be willing to accept the circumstances you’re living under today. COVID-19 won’t dictate our every move forever. Things will change, and so will you! So why not take the time to help yourself gain knowledge or skills as you work toward new goals.
Ask for help, advice, and guidance from your peers and people who have been in recovery for a while. You'll be surprised at the things you can accomplish!
Finding Fellowship in Sober Living
Are you looking for a way to branch out and be independent in recovery without taking too many chances? A community of others who are sober can help you continue to work on yourself and your goals, with a mixture of structure and independence. Get in touch with us to learn about which options are available to you right now by calling 760-216-2077.
Affirmations can be used in recovery to help you stay focused on your goals and achieve a better, more positive attitude. Many people in recovery feel plagued by negative thoughts or self-defeating beliefs. These are the kind of issues that keep people stuck in recovery and perpetuate negative attitudes. They can also stop you from trying new things or succeeding.
“I’m no good at this” or “I never manage to learn” are examples of negative self-talk that affirmations can help you change. You may have heard that you weren’t good at certain things when you were growing up, so you never tried them for yourself. In your mind, when you try something new, these beliefs may pop up and discourage you. Negative self-talk can keep you from trying new things or becoming the person you want to be.
Think about your most negative thoughts. You probably have a few of them going through your mind throughout the day. Write them down. Think about how they affect your decision-making. Think about how you feel when those thoughts arise. You probably can even think of a few times you were completely wrong when you were having these negative thoughts.
Let’s work on changing your inner narrative.
Positive self-talk takes practice. Affirmations are an easy way to practice thinking better thoughts about yourself. Self-affirmations can help you to challenge and overcome negative thought patterns and establish better self-esteem. When a thought is repeated enough, you can start to believe more positive things about yourself. You’ll also have a better attitude.
Write down your affirmations on some index cards and keep them in your pocket. When you have a quiet moment during the day – in the bathroom, on lunch break, etc. take the time to read them. Try to read your affirmations at least three times a day, every day, even when you’re having what you consider a bad day.
Affirmations should challenge the negative thoughts you have about yourself.
If you’re not sure how to do that, here is a list of affirmative statements that you may want to choose from:
These are just a few examples of how you can use affirmations in your life. Try to use them whenever you feel stuck in a rut or negative. If you’re having trouble writing your affirmations, ask for help from a sponsor or recovery friends.
For many people in recovery, sober living is an integral part of their journey in recovery. Living among peers with similar goals helps you stay focused, and you’ll also be part of an intimate, recovery-centered community. Learn more about your options by calling us at 760-216-2077.
For many people with opioid use disorder, Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) such as Suboxone or Vivitrol is a lifeline to long-term sobriety. While MAT is not the best option for everyone, thousands of people across America have used it in one form or another to help put distance between themselves and their last use of illicit drugs.
MAT is considered an important tool for people with opioid use disorder. The recovery community has not necessarily embraced it as the go-to tool for addiction recovery, mainly due to worries about its safety. Many people who got sober without the aid of MAT may have reservations about its use. However, the FDA has recently recommended the use of agonist or partial agonist medications (methadone, buprenorphine) to support abstinence. Through this endorsement, more treatment centers have decided to add MAT as a tool for people new to recovery.
Like all treatment tools, MAT is an option, but it’s not the only way people can get and stay sober. We’re fighting a deepening opioid crisis, and treatment providers, as well as their clients, deserve to have as many tools at their disposal as possible. MAT definitely can provide a life-saving function for people who suffer from opioid dependence and addiction.
It is the role of the treatment providers and medical professionals to learn the facts about how medications work and find ways to support long-term recovery for individuals using these medications. This education on MAT includes those who run sober homes and housing programs for people in recovery.
According to data from 2018 gathered by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 128 people in the United States die from opioid overdoses every day. Medication-Assisted Treatment has helped thousands of people beat those odds by reducing cravings and assisting individuals to put more time between themselves and their drug of choice.
New guidance has been released by NIDA to help addiction treatment providers understand the ins and outs of prescribing and helping people use MAT as a part of their overall treatment plan.
While all treatment providers and sober housing professionals have their own programs that help them build a safe community, this information is vital to assisting professionals to make the right choice for their clients to begin their journey in recovery.
The guidelines brief attached can help sober living homes and other providers understand where MAT fits into an overall treatment plan. While MAT is still new to the sober housing community, it has been safely used in treatment facilities for a number of years. Understanding what role it can play will help housing communities draft their own policies based on science and information on treatment outcomes.
NARR's mission, according to their website, is "to support persons in recovery from addiction by improving their access to quality recovery residences through standards, support services, placement, education, research, and advocacy."
Now, more than ever, it’s important to have people in your life who support your recovery. Sober living situations are a great way to rebuild your life and adjust to working on your new goals. Learn more about how our sober home can help you in your recovery. Call us at 760-216-2077 to learn about housing options.
Many people in recovery get bored easily. For many, this feeling a trigger than brings about bad ideas, such as using or participating in old behaviors. Why is boredom such a challenge for people who want to stay clean and sober? And how can you learn to cope with it and even keep yourself from being bored in the first place?
When you were using alcohol and drugs, you probably had just a few minutes to sit still every day. It wasn’t comfortable, and you probably tried to keep your time sober at a minimum. After all, when you were having those fleeting moments of sobriety, you were probably spending your time thinking or obsessing about the next time you could get high or drunk again.
People often dislike sitting still, especially those with substance use disorder who actively get drunk or high. Sitting always gives you time with your thoughts and places you right in the center of your reality. It gives you time to feel uncomfortable emotions.
For those in early sobriety, boredom gives you time to think about the past. It's normal you will feel a compulsion to use sometimes. There are triggers that almost everyone has, and boredom is a common one. It’s natural, but it can be very uncomfortable. Idle times may make this feeling worse, especially when your head is not in a good place. Thinking too much, especially about the past and using drugs or drinking, can lead you to a slippery slope.
In the era of COVID-19, it’s easy to get bored. But you don’t have to stay bored. Here are some tips and tricks to help you stay sane when you’re struggling with a feeling of boredom.
These are just a few ideas of ways to keep boredom from taking over. Keeping busy is essential in early recovery. You may end up tired at the end of the day – so remember, easy does it! You don’t have to overdo things. Just try not to give yourself too much time doing nothing.
Now, more than ever, it’s important to have people in your life who support your recovery. Sober living situations are a great way to rebuild your life and adjust to working on your new goals. Learn more about how a sober home can help you in your recovery. Call us at 760-216-2077 to learn about housing options.
