Eight Reasons You Should Stay Sober

You have successfully passed through rehab. Or perhaps you gave up the use of a dangerous substance and are now battling with relapsing. You have come a long way. You can’t give up now.

The first thing you need to do is recount what your life looked like when you were using (this doesn’t mean remembering the high, but rather implies remembering how using drugs destabilised your life) and ask yourself if that’s the life you want to live.

If you are struggling with answering that question, this article is meant to help you recount. Here are eight reasons you should stay sober.

You Could Die

One nasty thing about substance addiction is the need to consume higher doses in order to achieve the desired and stronger psychoactive effects. This is a major reason some people overdose on drugs, and overdosing can render one unconscious or even dead. By staying sober, you spare yourself these risks.

Avoid Legal Repercussions

Both the possession of illegal drugs and the abuse of legal ones are unlawful in the UK. You could spend up to seven years in prison if you are caught. Stay sober and avoid going to jail.

Avoid Physical Health Complications

It’s no longer news that substance abuse can result in a myriad of physical health problems. When you abuse drugs, you are basically compromising the health of your heart, liver, lungs, and kidney. You also stand the risk of experiencing seizures, dangerous weight loss, high blood pressure, impaired senses, and many more conditions.

Avoid Infectious Diseases

When you take drugs, you lose your inhibition. Thus you are prone to risky sexual behaviours that can expose you to STIs, including HIV/AIDS. Some drugs like heroin can be injected, and if you share needles with drug friends or gang, you also risk acquiring blood borne diseases. Stay sober. It’s the only way to avoid these risks.

Mental Illness and Cognitive Impairment

Regular users of drugs are prone to psychiatric diagnosis, schizophrenia, paranoia, panic attack, hallucination, anxiety, depressive disorder, and many other mental illnesses. Also, the use of drugs is known to dampen memory, cognitive abilities, and concentration. If you have ever been to a psychiatric hospital, then you understand the need to avoid mental illness by staying sober.

Avoid Relationship Issues

Drug abusers and addicts are liable to having issues with maintaining relationships (whether with family, friends, or lovers), due to their disregard of their responsibilities and their tendencies to deceive their loved ones. Since you were once an abuser or addict, you probably already understand how it feels to not be trusted by friends and family. And if you know that feeling, then you obviously don’t want to feel it again.

Take Control of Your Finance

Addicts and abusers tend to experience financially problems because of their willingness to spend in order to maintain their supply of the substance they are addicted to or are abusing. The fact that they need higher doses with time, coupled with the withdrawal symptoms that manifest when they don’t use, translates to desperation and to them spending more on drugs.

When you are hooked on a drug, you are never in charge of your finances. The drug is.

Improve at Work and in School

With the amount of time people hooked on drugs dedicate to procuring, using, and recovering from the drugs, they rarely find time for the important things in their life like school and work. Even when they are at work or school, their productivity and performance are greatly compromised, and they often indulge in activities that can get them fired or expelled. That is definitely not the life you want to go back to.

When you stay sober, you don’t only improve your life, you also improve the lives of those around you. If these aren’t good reasons to stay sober, what else is?