Practical Ways to Stay Sober

Sometimes sobriety and recovery can feel overwhelmingly challenging. I’ve been there. In this episode I discuss some simple ways that have helped me maintain my peace of mind over the years. Simple and practical methods to keep yourself emotionally regulated,  and handle your stress and emotions in healthy ways. 

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Transcript

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All right. So I'm gonna talk about practical ways that I stay sober. Um, it it we look, if you're listening to this and you think you have a problem, or you know you have a problem, or you're curious about trying to quit, which you may or may not be trying to quit, this is for you. And if you're just curious, that's cool too. Um, it's not gonna be complicated. Like it, I there are so many things that you can do on a regular basis every day to keep yourself sane, calm, cool, collected, regulated. Okay. Um, people sometimes it feels like it could be overwhelming, and it doesn't have to always be so overwhelming, it doesn't have to be uh a wild struggle, none of that shit. So this is just a a list, simple list of like basic steps that I take, and you know, like the little things that just kind of set me up for success. Number one, daily meditation. Depending on what I am feeling, I'll switch between like a silent breath work situation and and then a guided meditation. Uh, I have a playlist actually of guided meditations on YouTube, and I'll just pick whatever feels right in the moment. I meditate twice a day in the morning and at the end of the day before bed, and sometimes I will meditate in the middle of the day if I feel called to it. It just depends on what's going on. Practically, this looks like stepping away from whatever is going on just to breathe. Like if it's in the middle of the day, you feel like you just need to reset yourself. Um, if you're in work or if you're like in a public space, you know, you could go to the bathroom, you could go to a little quiet corner, anything you can try to figure out, you figure that shit out. You go and you just breathe. You literally, literally just breathe, okay? And yeah, you refocus. Or, you know, maybe you take a quick five-minute mindfulness meditation on YouTube. You know, you can look it up. There's so many for a nice mental reset. Now, uh uh, let me let me break it down and be so fucking for real. This does not mean going into a shitty smelling space and just casually inhaling the fucking fumes of somebody else's human waste. Absolutely the fuck not. I'm talking about I'm talking about a single stall, really nice bathroom, okay, with nobody else around. All right. So, like, for me, me, I'm just saying is for me personally. I used to work in, I've I've worked in upscale restaurants, okay, at luxury hotels. So I would step off the floor and I would just go to the bathroom and fucking breathe. For real. Uh, just literally just take some time away from whatever you got going on to just breathe and just be mindful and be present and recollect yourself. I mean, it really helps you stay sane, it helps you stay regulated and emotionally stable, especially if you're if we're talking about like in a work environment, especially if you don't like your work environment and you just need a quick reset, that that that'll do it. Um, and it really helps you stay grounded too. Like if you don't have a guided meditation to listen to and you just you really only have five minutes, I recommend just starting with the basics, like inhaling, counting to four, holding for four, um, exhaling on four, and then holding that for four if you can. The longer the better, honestly. Like if you would inhale and count, um, you know, one, two, three, four, hold one, two, three, four, exhale, one, two, three, four, five. It's oh, the box breathing will really just kind of reset you. Even if you don't really feel it, it's it can be subtle sometimes if you're like really stressed out, but it helps. It really helps. Now, for my folks in the hospitality and restaurant industry, let me look. This tends to look like if you're stressed out and you want to go somewhere, this what it usually looks like, it's it's taking a smoke break with like cigarettes or weed or a really nice spliff, or you know, maybe doing coke in the bathroom in the middle of your shift while somebody else is watching your section or whatever. I'm look, I'm not judging. I am just speaking from personal experience. I have seen it and I have done it. So if you're looking for an alternative, I recommend literally just breathing. All right. Number two, nervous system regulation. This is interesting because recently on social media, it's like such a buzzword, buzz phrase, it's trending. People are getting more woke and whatever you want to call it, more informed, which is a good thing. Um, it could be it's a little bit, it's the word I'm looking for. Uh it kind of seems a little bit worn out, and people are just kind of saying random things that don't always make sense, and it just like they're using this phrase, and they don't really have the substance to back it up and actually understand what the fuck they're talking about. But it really just looks like um a positive coping, a positive coping mechanism to reset your mind, body, and spirit. Uh no, so like I learned about nervous system regulation in 2022, and you know, in retrospect, I realized it's something I have been doing for years before even trying to label it. It's just, and it's also just something humans naturally do. Like it's very intuitive, you know. There are so many different ways to regulate your nervous system, to calm yourself down, to shift from, you know, the flight or fight response and state of being to like being calm and being present in your body, shifting from mind to just being present in your body and calming the fuck down. It's really what nervous system regulation is. There's so many different ways to do it. Um, but yeah, so like I learned about EFT tapping and I started incorporating it into a regular practice like four or five years ago now. Um initially, I did it for like manifestation of things that I wanted, shifting my identity, increasing my energetic capacity to receive. And nowadays I do it so I don't lose my damn mind. So I stay emotionally stable, okay, and I don't spiral about trying to upgrade my identity and my life. It had nothing to do with sobriety in the sense that like my intentions for EFT tapping and nervous system regulation, they weren't about sobriety at all. But it is a habit that I have maintained for years, and it's definitely transformed my energy for the better. So EFT tapping stands for emotional freedom technique. It is a therapeutic tool, and it's really just like a self-soothing technique. Okay, so you tap on different meridian points that are associated with acupressure points. It's your face, it's your head, it's your torso, and you while you're doing that, simultaneously you pair it with certain phrases or affirmations. Um, and that really like reduces your stress hormones and calms you the fuck down. Okay, it calms you down, it lowers your heart rate, it lowers your blood pressure. I highly recommend. Um, and in conjunction with meditation and just mindfulness and being present, EFT tapping is really something that I would do when I needed a reset in the middle of a shift at work. Like when I'm talking about practical ways to be sober and not go to the things you want to go to, this is something I will legit do on a regular basis. Like, I did this as a server, I did this in my last few years as a manager. Like, legit, I would over-communicate with everybody and I would check in and I would make sure there were no fires to be put out. I would make sure there was no chaos to handle in the middle of the shift, and I'd be in the bathroom for two minutes, just breathing and doing a little quick EFT tapping session, um, and following along um, you know, like on YouTube. The O G, the most well-known person for this, his name is Brad Yates, B-R-A-D, last name, Yates, Y-A-T-E-S. Look him up, it's awesome. He's got shit spanning from just the years. He's been he's been on it for years. And you know, if you that that doesn't float your boat, um, if you don't really resonate with him or that, um, you know, there's there's plenty of other people who do it too. I'm pretty sure if you look up on Instagram and TikTok, I've seen those videos too. If you type in EFT tapping, and then maybe like whatever the thing is you are focusing on, like EFT tapping for anxiety, EFT tapping for self-love, EFT tapping for positivity, EFT tapping for confidence, things like that. Uh, there's just so many ways to go about it. But yeah, like practically, I would go to the bathroom, I would pick one of these videos. I have a playlist set of like my go-to videos already on YouTube. And you know, sometimes I pair it with affirmations, and it really like personal affirmations I'm come up, I've come up with myself. I have it on my notes app. I have a list, I have a specific notebook with my own affirmations that I just kind of changed and you know formed over the years that suit me. But, you know, I just I pair that. I kind of escape from whatever's going on in the middle of the day, and I do some EFT tapping, and then it just kind of really it really helps me like recalibrate and have a baseline energy that's just fucking magical and juicy and awesome, and you just soak up my awesomeness. No, but for real, like this was this was helpful. This was especially helpful with like getting me through long shifts. And you know, if you work in restaurants specifically, you know, like look, if you don't, if you don't know, people who work in restaurants, like the the shifts can really be 10 to 11 hours long, like for managers and you know, people who are working doubles, like think of all the people who are taking care of you. If you if you don't have experience working in that industry, this is my bread and butter because I've been doing it for the last 15 years of my life. So I I would, you know, this is what I know. Um, those people do not get enough credit for all the hard fucking work they do and everything they have to go through. And you know, I am hoping that the people listening to this feel where I'm coming from because I know how hard it is to keep your shit together when shit is hitting the fan in the middle of a stressful shift and you're working in a restaurant, whether you're the host, the bartender, the server, the manager, the line cook, like whatever your position is, man, that shit's hard. So, yeah, practically one of the ways that helps me keep my shit together is just kind of like stepping off the floor for a little bit and doing some breath work, some EFT tapping, kind of, you know, just resetting myself. So, yeah, nervous system regulation in the middle of shift can really save you from an emotional meltdown, or you know, instead of substituting, just like substitute that instead of doing a smoke break or a drinking on the job while nobody's looking, which is what people do. All right, number three, my music, dancing, singing, humming, music, lord. This is the main thing that keeps me going. Honestly, it really is. Growing up, I played cello, I played a little guitar, I played a little piano, I am a great singer and dancer. Thank you very much. I was an orchestra and I was on the dance team, and you know, I have a very musically inclined family, actually. So for anybody who has ever worked with me, and all my friends, like y'all know, y'all know you can find me dancing and just singing just because out of nowhere, completely unsolicited, uncalled for. I don't even have to be listening to music. I can make a whole song by myself, and it just it just makes me happy. Whatever floats your boat, you know, it sets the mood for whatever the vibe is. I used to burn CDs in middle school and high school for friends and family. Um I have a playlist like for every mood in several genres. It just I have a playlist for basically every vibe. Because it just keeps me going, honestly. It really does. That's why I have a treble, I have a treble clef and a bass clef tattoo. This is my first tattoo because uh music makes the world go around, man, and I love it. Um, so whether it's just listening to music or creating it through whatever method that floats your boat, you know, it's it's really one of the best options for emotional regulation and sobriety. I can't even tell you the amount of times where I wanted a drink, or I wanted to smoke, or I wanted to vape, or I wanted to be reckless, or I wanted to slap a bitch in the face, or numb myself, or escape my feelings, and you know what I did instead? I listened to a song, or I danced, or I sang something, and I just kind of you know let the feeling pass, and I really alchemized that energy to something that wasn't destructive. So it it can really help you out. If you're looking for something that's just simple, just listen to a song, or sing a song, or play a song, or you just do what you gotta do to get your mind right. If you're angry, listen to angry music or a music that helps you get by while you're angry, or if you're happy or you want to be happy, listen to the music that you know is gonna actually, you know, kind of like emit that response from you. Okay, number four, exercise and physical movement. Plain and simple, sometimes you really, sometimes you really just need like physical movement and exercise instead of a glass of wine or a cigarette or blend. Honestly, that that's it. Like the benefits and the advantages of regular fitness are obvious. Like, shh, do what works for you. All right, something at home, some exercises at the gym, follow a specific program or a fitness app, calisthenics, group fitness classes, use class pass, you get a personal trainer, do whatever works for you, figure it out, and do that shit. Personally, me, I go to the gym and I like to go to spin classes, and I'm trying to get back into going to dance classes this year. I've been procrastinating on it, but like that's it's just my thing, man. You know? Um, yeah, it's just it makes me happy. It really just keeps me from losing my shit. And just going for a walk. I go for regular walks every day, every day. Just go for a damn walk. Sometimes you really just need like a 10-minute walk and just take a chill pill. You know, you know how they you know how I don't here's the thing, you know how they've been talking about, oh, go for a hot girl walk, it's a whole trend or whatever. I look, I don't do hot girl walks, it's more like angry girl walk, anxious girl walk. So I don't cuss a bitch out or have an emotional breakdown. It is it is what it is, and it's fun, you know, like out outside of a regular routine um and habit of working out. Sometimes you just need to move the energy in your body in small doses. It's called, you know, somatic shaking, somatic movements, like maybe five to ten minutes at a time. I do this at home, and you know, I would do this honestly, practically, I would do this at work again, like in the bathroom on a break. I would just kind of like bounce around, shake it out, left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand, just really just like shake it out, bounce it out, um, and just kind of move the energy. Like you feel this anxious, frantic energy building up in your body, and that is you know a cause of whatever your trigger is, whatever stresses you out, whatever that is, you kind of feel it physically building up, and you just need to release it. So if you can't do a whole, you know, exercise or workout routine, just kind of bounce it out, shake it out, do some squats, do some jumping jacks, do some push-ups, just move it. You gotta move your body. That's really you just have to move your body. Um, yeah, now, like, look, here's the thing if any, if anybody, if anybody saw me, if if I had a camera follow me around, a camera crew, they would think I'm crazy. And that's cool because I am. But once you realize, man, how stress and disease and unprocessed emotions and unresolved trauma, like that can really wreak havoc and like physically manifest as illness in your body. Like you, you, you make it when you realize that and you fully understand it, you will make it a damn priority to get that shit out. So, look, if you need to do some some squat jumps or push-ups or jumping jacks in the middle of the day as a means of stress relief, do it. If you gotta do that instead of smoking like three cigarettes or a joint or a blunt or hitting the bong or hitting the bow or doing a line of cocaine or you know, like watching porn, people do it all the time. It's just one of a cope, it's a coping mechanism. That's how addiction works. So if you're trying to cut that shit out, sometimes you gotta move your body physically. And look, it might look crazy, okay, but it works. I mean, literally, like there have been times, there have been so many times I would do squats or I would just be bouncing and doing like um somatic shaking in the middle of a work shift just to move the energy and the frustration and the stress in my body, and it works. Um, it's just it it it it works. That's it. And you know, another category, another category of exercise is sex. I'm just saying, okay, consenting adults in a safe and a healthy space or by yourself, it is it's a practical method of emotional regulation and co-regulation with a partner or partners, as long as it's healthy and safe and consensual, and it's not an addictive escape, then look, I'm here for it. Shit. That's it. Like, if that's what you need to do, that's what you need to do, and that's fine. That's fine, it is what it is. Number five, all right, laughter and joy. Sometimes you just need a good laugh. I mean, I mean a cathartic tears of joy, belly aching type of laugh, and I the internet is full of ridiculousness, okay? On YouTube, I have a playlist saved of the most absurd video clips that crack me the fuck up, honestly. It like it's a range of like stand-up comedy specials, short clips, scenes from movies, scenes from my favorite TV shows, stuff from like mad TV, SNL, random pop culture things. Like it's just it's all kinds of nonsense. I have I have clips from SpongeBob, key and pill skits, like several scenes from Step Brothers, like my favorite movie. Pineapple Express, Mrs. Doubtfire, um, what else? White Chicks, Little Man, Bridesmaids, stuff from Bernie Mack, stuff from Cat Williams, Joe Coy, Takara Williams, Jim Carrey, Will Farrell, Richard Pryor, like the most random, like bloopers have cat videos. Um Sweet Brown. Ain't nobody got time for that. It's anything. Look, seriously, just the most random shit, like compilation videos of um Maya Rudolph and Tina Faye and Amy Polar, just them being together on an SNL skit is hilarious. I love them. Anyway, anything and everything that makes me laugh, I have a folder or have a playlist and have it saved across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. And you know, I add to it regularly. I really do. So I highly recommend making yourself a little playlist or whatever. Whatever makes you laugh. When you need something to uplift you and lighten the mood, that's your go-to. It's it's just ready right there. Um, and another thing, what's also helped me is making a list in my notes app. And it's literally titled Laughs and Joy. And I just have the most random links copied and pasted there. Some of them I have uh a short blur, a short blurb or like a keyword or phrase as a reminder of what the content of that video is, and then other ones, it's it's just it's just a link. It's just a YouTube link, an Instagram link. It's the most random, like no context whatsoever. And you know what? It keeps me on my toes. I tell you that. I I click on it, I don't know what's gonna be, but I can tell you, I know it's gonna make you it's gonna put a smile on my face, it's gonna make me laugh and shit. Keeps me from losing my damn mind most of the time, and that's it. Number six, okay, hobbies. Whatever you like to do, just because you like to do it. Can we please can we please get back to people having actual hobbies? Lord, do activities because you like them. That's it. Don't don't don't sit there worry about like don't sit there worrying about trying to monetize it, trying to make it a side hustle, trying to like broadcast it to social media. Uh don't do none of that shit. All right, so everybody needs to chill out and trying to like document everything. It's kind of overkill. We don't need that. We just do what makes you feel happy. Keep it simple. Damn. Be fully present in a hobby just because it brings you joy and and because it makes your inner child happy, man. Uh yeah, like some things, some things I like to do, I don't even talk about are crocheting and knitting. And it's just so random. Like I used to crochet, I've crocheted and knitted for years. Years, and like people who aren't really close to me, they don't even know that because I don't need to sit here and post about it all the damn time. I just do it because I enjoy doing things with my hands, you know, it keeps me from being reckless sometimes, and it just helps me calm down and like like stay present. And most recently I've been getting into or I'm trying to get into calligraphy. Um, what else? Sometimes like painting abstract pieces of art randomly and then keeping them around just to decorate like the apartment, the room, give them away to your friends, whatever. Like growing up, man, I I grow growing up, I used to make friendship bracelets. I used to make friendship bracelets and keychains and lanyards, and I would just like I I would be in middle school and high school, y'all. Literally just crocheting and knitting stuff randomly, and like scarves and beanies, and I would just, you know, give them away. I mean, look, okay, okay. Initially, I did sell a lot of it. I was a little hustler, okay. I got the little entrepreneur spirit in me or whatever. But you know, initially, like after a while, I just gave them away to people. Like, I have friends to this day who have like the most random keychains and scarves that I've made just because I felt like making something pretty and just gave it, I gave it away, and I was like, it's been one of my hobbies since childhood. And that's it, you know. Um, what'd I say? Yeah, I'm getting into calligraphy. I I've pretty much, I pretty much I've had really good handwriting. Like always have had really good handwriting, and look, I mean fucking impeccable, cursive, and penmanship. Thank you very much. And I I love writing and I love artwork, so I just want to explore getting into different fonts and styles and just different forms of you know writing and making it look good and pretty just because I like it and it makes me happy, and that's it. And you know, it just I just the hobby that I have. What else? I I love language learning, it's one of my other hobbies. I don't really kind of talk about it, I just do it because I enjoy doing it, and that's it. I for those of y'all who don't know, I actually studied French linguistics for a while in college, and I've spoken French since I was 11 years old. It's like my first love. I have a French tattoo, and I keep up with it. I language learning is one of my other hobbies. It just I like it, it makes me happy, it keeps me calm, cool, and collected and productive in a way that's not like you know, kind of under the mission of being productive under capitalism. It just keeps me busy in a way that feels good and productive for me. Um, French, I speak Spanish, I speak Italian, I like it. That's what I do. Some of the things that I do that just keep me calm, cool, and collected. And yeah, so I recommend getting a damn hobby. That'll kind of keep you from losing your shit or you know, relapsing, hopefully, maybe. I don't know. It's just it's just things that have practically helped me, myself, and I personally over the years. Um yeah. What else? Oh my god, uh, almost forgot. Chewing gum, man. Number seven is chewing gum and candy. Do I recommend eating like shit and junk food all the time? Absolutely not. But sometimes eating something sweet will keep you from losing your shit. I swear. If you've ever gone to, I don't I don't know who's listening, okay? I ain't finna judge y'all, but I'm just saying I've done a lot of degenerate shit. And if you're around a whole bunch of people, like, for example, people have this, uh, they have an oral fixation. A lot of alcoholics and people who smoke cigarettes and weed, they have an oral uh fixation, which is like a really strong urge, right? To kind of like keep your mouth busy, whether it's like chewing or you know, biting your nose. It's an oral fixation. So, for example, a lot of people who go to AA meetings, I've been to a few, they smoke cigarettes. It keeps them from drinking. Is it a good vice to have? Absolutely not. It's still detrimental and harmful to your health. But look, if that's what you gotta do to get by, sometimes that's what you gotta do to get by. Like sometimes you gotta trade one in for another. So to avoid all of that, because you know it's not good for you. Don't recommend to avoid all of that, chew some damn gum, man. If you're trying to quit smoking, figure try nicotine gum. You never know, it might work for you. I've I've had nicotine gum for a while. Um, then eventually I just kind of stopped and then went to just basic gum. I got gum on me at all times, anywhere I am. I have gum and I have mints. Why? Number one, I don't like it when my breath's thing. Let's be for real. I don't like it. I don't like that shit. Number two, it keeps me, it just kind of keeps like uh it gets that anxious energy down. The urges don't really come up as much as they used to. I've gotten a lot better at it and a lot more like uh emotionally regulated. I've done a lot more inner work in terms of healing and introspection and journaling and all that shit. All that. But initially, chewing gum was just like I needed it. I needed to chew gum so I could not go smoke a blunt or smoke a cigarette or hit the vape or go drink. Like sometimes chewing gum will really just keep you going, and that's that's all you need to get by, and that's what I would do. So if you're looking for an honest, practical way to stay sober, try chewing gum, or maybe just eating a little bit of candy here and there. A lot of people who are trying to quit doing something, they they tend to do those things, and I've done those things, and they do work for some time. If that's what you need, that's what you need. Like, I can story time. So this was a few years ago, someplace where I worked. Um, it was in the middle, it was just a crazy shift. Man, it was awful. It was just one of the worst shifts of my entire career, to be honest with you. Like the damn health inspector came, and anyone who works in restaurants and hospitality, you know how stressful those days can be. Everyone loses their shit, and everybody is on edge until it's over. And you're praying to God that you got a good grade so nothing gets shut down, everybody can keep their jobs, and everybody can stay in business. So the health inspector came. It was not a drill, and I was the only manager on the ship, bro. And we it was just oh man, it was one of those days, and you know, all I wanted to do was go smoke, and I didn't. I ate candy instead. I ate candy and I was chewing gum on my little break for myself, which is it's just a moment that makes me proud. Um, another shift we had was like really just so stressful. We were so understaffed. I felt like half of the team wanted to walk out and they didn't, so like, thank God for them. Um, not gonna name names, but like you know who you are. If you were there that day, man. If you were there that day, all right, a few years ago, back in September, okay. We had this was a breakfast shift. We had people coming out the wazoo. We didn't have enough people staff. It was Labor Day weekend. It was a bitch, man. It was just awful. Nobody was prepared for it. And it just sucked. People were coming in back to back to back to back. We had like a line, we had a long ass line, so long, I had to shut it down. I literally told people, like, we cannot, we can't take you in. Like, I can send you back to your room. Here's my business card. Tell them Raven sent you up there. I can send you back upstairs to your room. You're gonna have to order like in-room dining room service, and that's with a limited menu. Cause look, you see how bit like I look, I only got like two servers, three servers, and like two food runners, and that's it. We are all busting ass. Everybody was stressed out of the wazoo. It's one of those shifts that you like you can just quit right then and there. You could just walk out and never come back because it's that stressful. Like, it's one of those shifts that causes you to have an emotional meltdown and anxiety and panic attack for real. And like a couple of the people were starting to have blows, and I had to calm them down. And you know, it's just I all I wanted to do, y'all. Let's be so fucking for real. All I wanted to do was walk outside and just like chain smoke at least like four cigarettes and hit the blunt. That's all I wanted to do. I hated it, I hated everything about it. It was awful. It was just unnecessarily busy for a damn breakfast shift. I was so mad. I was so mad and stressed out. Um, but we made it, man. We had like just for practical for um for people who don't know covers, we had like the amount of people who came in. It was like damn near 200 folks that came up in there in a span of like uh like an hour, like two hours. It it just got busy unexpectedly, and we were not prepared. And I was so just like run thin and on edge, and I was doing everything. I was just like, I was at the front, I was in the kitchen, I was busting tables, I was flipping tables, I was greeting people, I was seating people, I was cleaning silverware. I had to go back into the dish pit because the dishwasher fucking like we don't even know where the hell he was for 10 minutes, and that just fucked everything up. I had to go back there and wash dishes, bro. Anyway, my point is one of the moments that made me proud of myself was like I made it through that shift, and all I wanted that's like that shift where you just need a damn drink, man. And I didn't. I could have, I did not. You need like a pack of cigarettes, a blunt, and two drinks just to like calm yourself down for the rest of the damn day. That was one of those days, and y'all know what I did. I ate a damn Snickers bar. I ate candy. I walked out when I could take a break, and somebody else could like watch over for me. I legit uh walked around the corner. I went to the deli. I got like, I think I got ice cream or something. Um, and I just you know, I was chewing gum for a bit. So enough of my segues and my rants and getting off topic. My point is sometimes chewing gum and eating something sweet can help you out. All right, so let's recap. Number one, practical way to stay sober, all right? Meditation and mindfulness. Y'all just find five minutes of intentional presence and just breathe. If you don't, if you don't have any like things on YouTube or like uh guided meditations that you can instantly just think of and go to sometimes, just breathing and box breathing, focusing from um like your toes. It sounds crazy, but look, hear me. This is what I would do. I'm being so serious. I would just breathe and be silent, even if there's like chaos and noise around me, focus on feeling like the physical sensation of your toes and your feet being grounded, and then move up to your knees and your legs and your thighs, and then you know, your midsection, your belly button, like your chest and your arms and your head. And it's sometimes you have to sit there and refocus yourself, be present and be mindful, and meditate and recalibrate. All right. Number two, nervous system regulation, right? EFT tapping, emotional freedom technique. It helps you calm yourself down, it calms any anxiety, it calms your um your vagus nerve, and it shifts you from this like heightened state of stress and flight or fight mode to a calm state of being. Nervous system regulation involves EFT tapping. Um, look up Brad Yates, like I said earlier, and involves also like physical movement is another part of nervous system regulation, but somatic shaking could be a part of nervous system regulation. Humming is also the thing that I was talking about with like music. It's all connected, not to get too wordy, but it's all connected essentially. Nervous system regulation is just a way to have a way to calm yourself down, and it's a positive coping mechanism that's not going to, you know, destroy your progress, progress and just kind of keep you sober and chill. Number three, music as a form of stress relief can practically help you stay sober and not lose your shit. Singing, humming, dancing, playing any instrument, if you got them, it really shifts your focus and it lights up different parts of your brain that don't make you, you know, want to bash your head into the wall and go do drugs. Like, let's be so for real. I'm sorry, I have a dark sense of humor. But this seriously, if you need to listen to some music to help you from losing your mind and like having a meltdown and punching somebody in the face and then destroying your own health, go and do that. All right, listen to some damn music, dance it out, do what you gotta do, twerk it out. Look, five minutes of twerking a day will keep the nonsense away. I swear. I swear, try it. I highly recommend. Number four, physical movement and exercise. Look, it you just gotta move your body. Sometimes you gotta get out of your mind and into your body to release any of that trapped energy. All right, it'll really just help minimize any of that extra cortisol that you got going on. It'll increase your dopamine and your serotonin, just kind of keep you stable. Number five, laughing enjoy. Find something that makes you happy, okay? Comedy, having just uh a saved playlist on YouTube or Instagram, it can really go a long way when you need to just like have a pick-me-up or just like lighten the mood, laughing, enjoy. Do something that just kind of calms you down without having to relapse or like go into these, you know, negative vices and coping mechanisms you're trying to get rid of. If you don't have a problem, problem, if you're not addicted, addicted. Sometimes you just want to have healthy alternatives. Laughing, so simple, is one of them. Um, and number six, hobbies, all right? Any activity that you enjoy without worrying about being productive, worrying about monetizing, worrying about broadcast. Don't worry about none of that shit. Do something that makes you happy and just do it because you can. That's it. Just get a damn hobby. Whatever floats your boat, figure it out, do that shit, all right? And number seven, last but not least, a practical way um that I stay sober, a practical way of staying sober and not losing your shit, chewing gum, all right, and eating candy, eating some sweet from time to time. It's it's goes a long way, man. Interestingly enough, if you eat, um I forgot the specific details and the science behind it, but if you look it up, you'll see what I'm talking about. If you find some like sour candy, some sour chewing candy, like um sour patch kids or whatever you're into, it could really kind of help you. It it's like a jolt to your system, and it helps you kind of take your focus from whatever's stressing you out, whatever's triggering you, whatever feels like emotionally overwhelming. It jolts you and shifts your focus from that to like nothing but the sensation in your mouth of just like that jarring, sour feeling and taste on your taste buds. So sour candy can kind of do it for you. Try it and see how you like it. I don't know. If you ever feel like you're flipping out or you're about to you just feel anxious or frustrated or frantic or whatever, get some sour patch kits, and then see how you feel. It's different, it's interesting. All right, those are my practical ways that I highly recommend to stay sober. Those are the practical practical ways that I have stayed sober for this damn long. It's been four years in counting. I don't know how I got here, but I'm grateful. And those are just some of the ways that have kept me going this damn long. Woo! A journey. All right, a journey. I hope that helps. I hope it resonates with somebody. Share it with a friend if you think that they might need it, and you know, just stay tuned for the next episode, y'all. Thanks. Thank you for listening.