5 Ways To Stay Sober Through College

College is a time in a lot of people’s lives when they’re experimenting with a variety of things. It’s also usually the first time that some experience drinking. The college experience is so often hand in hand with drinking to excess, in a way that is neither necessary nor positive. College also has the uncanny effect of making horrible lifestyle choices and even, in some cases, actual alcoholism, seem like it's nothing to worry about. One minute you think that you’re a normal college student and the next you’ve graduated and find yourself feeling sick when you haven’t drunk for a few days. Adopting a sober life in college is hard, but the rewards, and the damage avoided, can be potentially lifesaving. So, without further ado, let’s look at some ways that you can achieve this.

Meet Other Sober Students

If all of your friends, the people who you feel most obliged to spend time with, all party hard, it’s going to be much more difficult for you to avoid being involved with that activity. Within the echo chamber of the party kids in college, there’s a misconception that finding people who don’t drink means going way out of your way, looking for people with allergies or religious obligations. This is simply not true. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who just don’t like drinking to excess. Having people that you can rely on on a night out to be sober can make your decisions easier to make.

Tell People Around You

It’s much easier to stick to a resolution if you aren’t doing it alone. “Letting your friends know that you’re trying to stay sober can help keep you on the straight and narrow. Whilst you are still entirely responsible for your own actions, it can give you a support network of people who remind you just by knowing what you ought to be doing to keep up the good work," advises Mark Kim, educator at Academized and Writing PhD Thesis. Don’t be shy about it, it’s a perfectly reasonable decision to make. Anyone who doesn’t understand that just hasn’t grown up enough.

Know What Type of Settings To Avoid

Socializing as someone who is staying sober is tough. In college most of the time socializing involves alcohol. There are also certain sorts of socializing that depend on alcohol consumption, like Greek life or even drinking societies. You have to strike a balance. On the one hand, you need to be able to socialize. But things like being in a fraternity or sorority or, obviously, a drinking society, are going to need to be eliminated from your life to give yourself the best chance of staying sober.

Become A Morning Person

One of the really liberating things about not drinking is knowing that you’ll never have days were productivity is wiped out by the activities the night before. “So much of the valuable time people have at college is spent recovering from what came the night before. Not drinking allows you the opportunity to take classes you might not otherwise have, exercise more, play certain sports that have early morning training an all sorts of other advantages that you ought to explore," advises Henrietta Clarke, college counselor at Do an Assignment and PaperFellows.

Join A CRC, or Enjoy Sober Socializing Schemes

Most colleges find ways to provide social opportunities for students who don’t drink, including collegiate recovery programs, which are specialized to certain colleges and universities. These programs are aware of the fact that most social situations in college come with the pressure of alcohol. Take advantage of these opportunities to have a fulfilling social life without alcohol. If your school doesn’t offer these opportunities, then you ought to push for them to be instituted. Lobbying for this is the best way to get your college on board.

Conclusion

It goes without saying that college is a time when most people will have their first serious encounters with drinking culture. If the sound of that puts you off, or you used to partake but want to clean up your act, hopefully this article shows you that there is a path for you to pursue as a sober college student.