Going It Alone In Addiction Recovery | Matt Solo EpisodeGoing It Alone In Addiction Recovery | Matt Solo Episode
My Sober Addiction
Matt Stevens reflects on how to balance the need for community with learning to spend time alone in addiction recovery. He shares practical tools and personal reflections on identity, relapse prevention and using solo time in a positive way.
24:31•18 Aug 2026
Going It Alone Without Being Alone: Matt on Solo Time in Recovery
Episode Overview
- Community is essential in recovery, but learning to be comfortable alone is also part of long-term sobriety.
- Avoid risky situations by deleting contacts who could supply drugs and making relapse harder to act on.
- Use awareness alarms to pause during the day, check your behaviour, and recentre your focus.
- Keep a written list of safe solo activities such as walking, journalling, meditation and listening to recovery podcasts.
- Treat alone time as a chance to rediscover who you are now and channel obsessive energy into positive, creative pursuits.
“"Make relapsing a chore, right? Make it hard to do."”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of recovery, as Matt Stevens shares what it means to go "solo" without really being on your own. This episode of My Sober Addiction is Matt talking directly to people in addiction recovery, reflecting on how community and alone time can both support sobriety.
Matt starts by acknowledging how powerful his group conversations with Dom and Clive have been, but then shifts into why spending time alone is a skill you’ll want to build as your recovery matures. Humans, he says, are "pack animals" who don’t do well isolated for long, yet there’s value in learning to sit with yourself without reaching for old habits.
He stresses that this is safer once recovery is less fragile, and only if you keep a "lifeline" to your support network close. Practical ideas come thick and fast: deleting every contact who could supply drugs, setting "awareness alarms" on your phone to check what you’re doing, and keeping a list of safe activities for solo time like walking, journalling, meditation and listening to recovery podcasts.
He jokes that you should "make relapsing a chore" by putting barriers in the way of old behaviours. A big theme is identity. Matt speaks honestly about once being "just another fiend" waiting hours for a dealer, and now having to "reacquaint myself with myself" in long-term sobriety.
He invites you to use alone time to figure out who you are now, and to channel that classic addict tendency to obsess into "healthy addictions" such as crafts, music, or creative projects that demand focus and patience. Throughout, Matt keeps circling back to the importance of checking in with your recovery community, even on days spent alone. The message is simple: learn to trust yourself in solitude, but never forget your pack.
How could you start building that balance between quiet time and connection today?
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