How To Avoid A Relapse: Secret #1 Avoid Triggering SituationsHow To Avoid A Relapse: Secret #1 Avoid Triggering Situations
I Love Being Sober
Tim Westbrook explains why avoiding triggering situations is presented as secret number one to staying sober in the first year. He shares personal examples, practical strategies and mindset shifts aimed at helping people reach the one-year milestone without relapsing.
21:02•10 May 2022
Secret #1 to Staying Sober: Steering Clear of Triggering Situations
Episode Overview
- Avoid old drinking and using environments, especially bars, parties and late-night venues, during the first year of sobriety.
- Treat stress and conflict as potential relapse triggers and make decisions that protect peace, serenity and stability.
- Recognise negative emotions like shame, anger and loneliness as risk factors and talk openly with a sponsor, therapist or trusted person when they arise.
- Hold off on dating in the first year to focus on recovery and becoming the kind of person you want to attract.
- Fill your schedule with meetings, service work and healthy activities so you can find your recovery tribe and build a new sober lifestyle.
“The reality is that you're broken. If you're in your first year of recovery, you're broken. Focus on your recovery until you become the person that you want to be in your life.”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of how early sobriety can feel messy, hopeful, and downright confusing. This episode of "I Love Being Sober" hones in on one big idea: avoiding triggering situations as secret number one to staying sober in that crucial first year.
Host Tim Westbrook speaks directly to people who are new to recovery, sharing honest stories from his own drinking days—like smuggling beers into football games or packing a golf bag with an 18-pack—just to show how completely life can revolve around alcohol without you even noticing. He points out that those old environments, from late-night bars to rowdy concerts and "drinking holidays" like New Year’s Eve and St.
Patrick’s Day, can be dangerous territory until you’ve built a solid sober foundation. Tim’s style is straight-talking and sympathetic. He reminds you that “more than 90% of people relapsed in their first year” and stresses that awareness of triggers is essential if you want to reach that one-year milestone.
He breaks triggering situations into everyday categories: environments that revolve around drinking or using, stressful home or work situations, financial pressure, abusive relationships, and heavy emotions such as shame, anger, loneliness and guilt.
Rather than just warning people off trouble, he talks about practical ways to protect yourself: sticking close to recovery friends at parties, delaying dating during the first year, calling a sponsor or therapist when negative emotions hit, and filling your life with new healthy habits—meetings, service work, exercise, hobbies and finding your "tribe" in recovery groups. The tone is hopeful yet realistic, aimed at anyone who feels broken but wants a "kick-ass sober life".
If you’re in your first year and wondering how to actually stay sober day-to-day, this episode offers clear suggestions and a tough but caring reminder: your job right now is simply to make it to a year. Are you ready to rethink which situations you say yes to?
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