Find a way to keep yourself honest. Drinkers are often adept liars, often making lots of excuses to rationalize excessive drinking. Doing things like keeping an alcohol journal and setting clear, specific goals will help you keep yourself on track.


Keep track of any slip-ups. For example, if you drank on an “off day” or had more than your set limit of drinks, note it down.
Tell a particular person, a close friend who you'll trust to not judge you, but who you know you can't hide things from. Confide in this person.
Go to support group meetings regularly. Knowing you’ll have to be accountable to your group friends may help keep you on the wagon.
 If you used to drink a lot socially, or used to hang around people who drove you to drink to excess for whatever reason, you might need to sever ties completely, or at least significantly restrict your access to these people.People you might need to avoid include:


Heavy drinkers
One-up drinkers, or competitive drinkers
Stressful friends
Toxic relationships

, Sometimes, you will experience the urge to drink, and there’s no way around it. Rather than fight the urge, accept that you’re feeling it and then ride it out. Remember that the urge can only rise so far before it breaks and falls, just like a wave.Accepting your urge doesn’t mean giving in to it. Instead, it means that you’re not struggling in vain to “make” yourself have a different feeling.
Take a physical inventory. Take a few moments to breathe deeply and focus your attention on your body. Notice where you feel that craving, and how it manifests. For example, maybe you feel your craving most strongly in your mouth and nose, or perhaps your hand feels twitchy.
Focus on one area where you find yourself experiencing this urge. Pay close attention to your physical sensations. Make statements that describe how you feel, but keep them judgment-free: you’re not here to make yourself feel bad, just to understand what your body’s doing. For example: “My mouth feels really dry. I feel like having a beer would be so cold and refreshing. I keep swallowing and I’m imagining the bubbles going down my throat.”
Repeat this process with each part of your body that’s experiencing your craving. With time and practice, your urge may not go away, but you’ll be much better at understanding how to wait it out.
 Find healthier ways to process your stress that don't involve drinking alcohol. Stress can be a reason that we drink, and can act swiftly and powerfully in forcing us to give up our principles and take a drink. You might have several months on the wagon, but one terrible day at work or a bad argument with your partner can make a beer sound awfully good. Find other ways to process that stress and that frustration without turning to the bottle.Recognize when you’ve got a craving for a drink, based on a stress-induced situation. If you’ve just gotten off a long and frustrating shift at work after getting chewed out by your boss, it might be tempting to swing by the bar on the way home. Instead, find another activity to do when confronted with the same scenario. Maybe you head to the park and shoot hoops, or head to the gym and lift heavy stuff, or head to the basement and throw darts at an effigy of the boss. He’ll never know.
Instead of drinking, call your supporting friend and talk about how you want to have a drink. Be accountable before you slip. Talk out your craving and help make it disappear together. Come up with a distraction and get distracted. The craving will pass.
 If you used to spend a lot of your free time drinking with friends, sobriety can seem kind of boring at first. What else is there to do? Find new hobbies and productive ways to spend all that time you used to spend drinking.


Take up creative projects you've always meant to get down to. Write that book you've always wanted to write, or pick up the guitar, or learn how to knit. Develop a new creative skill that will get you enthusiastic and motivated to do other things.
If you can, try to join social groups that will allow you to spend time with people in a social setting that doesn't involve drinking. Join a hobby club, or a bowling league, or a kickball group. Make new friends doing a joint venture together.
 Getting physical can make the idea of drinking to excess seem terrible by comparison. If you get excited about getting in shape, getting sweaty, and losing weight, you'll hardly waste any time thinking about taking a drink.


Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise has been shown to have positive effects for recovering alcohol abusers.Aerobic exercise also improves symptoms of anxiety and depression, which can be triggering for alcohol abuse.Mindfulness meditation is also helpful for people who are recovering from alcohol abuse.Mindfulness meditation focuses on observing what your body and thoughts are doing in a non-judgmental way. It can help you acknowledge urges without having to automatically follow through on them.
Competing at team sports can provide a healthy distraction. If you're shooting hoops with your friends, or playing tennis, or swimming, you can spend quality time that doesn't involve drinking.
 Set up a series of rewards for yourself for given periods of sobriety. At the end of the first week, take yourself out for a great meal. At the end of the first year, tell yourself you'll take that trip abroad that you've always wanted to take. Give yourself an incentive to get to the next rung on your sober ladder.
Make yourself accountable.
Avoid people who make you want to drink.
Surf your urges.
Manage your stress levels.
Find new hobbies and interests.
Start exercising.
Reward yourself for periods of sobriety.
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