Sober Living in San Diego – Creating Good Habits and Living Your Best Life in “America’s Finest City”
With twenty-nine four-year colleges in and around the city, and the Mexican border just a stone’s throw away, residents of San Diego have plenty of opportunity to party. With this in mind, it may seem like San Diego would be one of the last places a young man in recovery would want to be. Too much temptation. Too many easy opportunities to slip up. But we’re here to tell you that San Diego is actually a wonderful place to build a satisfying and fulfilling sober life. The city and its surrounding communities have ample resources for young men looking for support, and the opportunities to build a healthy lifestyle are everywhere. Read on to find out more.
Lasting recovery is much more difficult to achieve without the help of professionals and friends, and cities like San Diego are filled with organizations and support groups designed to share the load. Any day of the week, morning, noon or night, San Diegans have access to alcoholics anonymous and narcotics anonymous meetings at various locations across the county. Numerous organizations within the county offer classes for life skills and financial literacy, and there are plenty of entry-level job opportunities to help develop foundational skills and experience.
In addition, transitional living programs and sober living houses in San Diego – like The Grounds Recovery – can provide up to a year’s worth of professionally-guided support. Our program offers increasing levels of earned freedom and responsibility for young men who are committed to sobriety but need more structure to their recovery after rehab. Providing community meetings, weekly therapy, and life skills instruction, programs like ours are designed to help young men succeed over the long-term.
Surfing, hiking, biking, skating…when it comes to building a healthy lifestyle, San Diego can’t be beat. With a mild Mediterranean climate and 146 days of sunshine per year, there is opportunity almost every day to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. At The Grounds Recovery, we believe that living each day filled with physical activity, plenty of sunshine, healthy food, and recreation with like-minded friends is critical to walking the path of long-term recovery.
We don’t view sobriety as giving up the fun and excitement of life. Much to the contrary, we see sobriety as the key to letting in the experiences and people that provide authentic connection and lasting fulfillment. Being awake to the wonders of the natural world, being physically healthy and capable of catching that first wave at daybreak, being present and part of a genuine community – these are the foundational elements of a willing and engaged sober life. In San Diego, the opportunity for creating this type of healthy lifestyle is everywhere.
Mental health issues, loss and trauma, learning difficulties, and instability at home can all contribute to substance abuse and cause difficulty in meeting academic expectations. But just because your life didn’t follow the traditional path of high school to college to career, doesn’t mean those opportunities are lost. In fact, building job skills, going to college or a technical school, even opening your own business are still very real possibilities, and San Diego has the resources and economy to make those dreams come true.
At The Grounds, our program includes life skills development, employment coaching, and Greenwood career matching assessments to help our members discover their passions and determine next steps for career, school or certificated programs. Because San Diego is so heavily populated there are plenty of entry-level job opportunities, and because of the non-traditional lifestyles of many of its residents, there are numerous unique businesses catering to recreation, food, music, etc. for individuals not looking to take a traditional career path.
Confucius said it nearly 2,500 years ago, and it’s as true today as it ever was, especially when it comes to recovery. At The Grounds Recovery, we absolutely believe that in order to get clean and stay clean, removing yourself from the old friends and old habits is critical. Sometimes moving away from your hometown and prior life is absolutely necessary to break long-entrenched behavioral patterns. But the sad truth is that just about every town and city in every state in America has some level of substance abuse occurring among its populace – whether it’s alcohol (Nearly 25% of North Dakota’s population drinks excessively) or opiates (West Virginia had the highest adjusted rate of overdose deaths in 2018).
Because of the prevalence of drugs and alcohol in our society, it’s nearly impossible to remove all temptation and all access. That’s why efforts toward self-improvement and building a solid support network are so important. Developing healthy eating habits, exercising regularly, working at a fulfilling job, and nurturing friendships with like-minded people are critical to lasting recovery.
Once you do the work to change your outlook and once you develop the coping and life skills to get you through the rough patches, you’ll be better equipped to sidestep the temptations. You’ll be working toward building a fulfilling life worth protecting. And despite its party reputation, San Diego is one of the best places to make this happen. We’re here to help you develop the skills that will help you live sober and fulfilled in San Diego or anywhere else life takes you.
