http://sobersoldier.com/, http://www.sobersoldier.com/

Sober Soldier, Anaheim, CA (2026)

12/28/2025

Cold Weather or detoxing from hard drugs,
Old Pain, New Solution: CBD Relief Cream For Sober Soldiers ❄️💪

When the temperature drops, everything aches a little more.
Especially during the early detox days
Old injuries wake up. Joints feel stiff. Muscles tighten. Even simple things like getting out of bed or going for a walk can feel heavier in winter.

If you are in recovery, you already carry enough weight.
You do not need to white-knuckle through physical discomfort on top of everything else.

That is where the Sober Soldier CBD Relief Cream comes in.

Formulated for serious support, this high-strength CBD cream is designed to be part of your daily recovery routine:

✅ Use it after long workdays when your back and shoulders are screaming
✅ Rub it into sore knees and joints after training or long walks
✅ Make it part of your nightly wind-down ritual to help your body relax and reset

Topical CBD lets you target specific areas, so you can support relief where you feel it most—without adding another pill to your life.

You are rebuilding your body, not just your sobriety.
Take your recovery seriously enough to care for the pain you used to numb.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

12/27/2025

How To Plan 2026
So You Actually
Follow Through 💪

Most people treat a new year like a reset button and then quit by February.

in recovery, you need more than hype. You need a plan you can actually live.

Here is how to build a simple, realistic 2026 plan ✅

Ask: Who
do I want to be
by the end of 2026?

Write 2–3 identity statements:

I am a sober man or woman.

I am disciplined with my time and body.

I am honest and dependable.
Your goals should match this identity.

Choose 3 main areas
Keep it tight:

Recovery and spiritual life

Health and fitness

Work, finances, or purpose
Under each, set 1 clear goal. Not ten. ….One.

Turn goals into daily or weekly actions
“Get fit” is not a plan.
“Walk 20 minutes, five days a week” is.
“Grow spiritually” becomes “Read one chapter and pray five minutes daily.”
If it is not specific, it will not stick.

Make the first step very small
Start with steps so easy you cannot excuse them:

10 push ups a day

One meeting a week

Five minutes of journaling
You are building consistency, not chasing perfection.

Add accountability
Tell a sponsor, mentor, or trusted friend your 2026 plan.
Ask them to check in with you.

Plan for setbacks
You will have off days.
Write this rule now:
“When I fall off, I get back on within 48 hours. No drama, just return.”

Review monthly
At the end of each month, ask:

What worked?

What did not?

What needs to change?
Adjust the plan instead of abandoning it.

You do not need a perfect year.
You need a year where you keep coming back to the plan, even after hard days.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

12/26/2025

How To Restart Your Fitness Journey After Christmas

Maybe you ate more than you planned.
Maybe you skipped workouts.
Maybe you feel heavy, sluggish, and a little disappointed in yourself.

Good. That means you care.

But read this carefully:
You did not lose all your progress in a few days.
You only lose if you do not restart.

Here is how to get back into your fitness routine after Christmas without shame or drama.

Accept, do not punish
You are human. Holidays are messy.
Do not starve yourself. Do not try to “make up” for everything in one brutal workout.
Accept what happened and move forward like a soldier, not a critic.

Make day one simple
Your first workout back should be easy to win.

💪🏻 Start with a 20 minute walk

💪🏻 3 x rounds of
- squats,
- push ups
- and planks

💪🏻 Gentle stretching or yoga

The goal is not to destroy yourself.
The goal is to prove to yourself, “I am back.”

Focus on rhythm, not intensity
For the first week, think consistency over performance.
Show up 4 to 5 days, even if it is short.
Once the habit is back, then you can push harder.

Clean up the environment
Get rid of the leftover junk that keeps calling your name.
Put your shoes out where you can see them.
Set your clothes out the night before.
Make it easier to do the right thing than the wrong thing.

Tie your fitness to your recovery
You are not working out just to “look better.”
You are training to:

Manage stress without substances

Regulate your mood

Build discipline

Respect the body God is rebuilding

Start today, not “after New Year”
“Next week” is where progress goes to die.
It does not have to be perfect. It just has to be today.

You did not ruin everything.
You just hit a bump.
Now you get to show yourself what a Sober Soldier does after a stumble:
You stand back up and move.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

12/25/2025

Christmas:
A Season of Hope
and New Beginnings

Christmas is more than lights, gifts, and gatherings. It’s a reminder that no matter how dark the past has been, a new beginning is always possible.

For anyone walking the road of recovery, this season carries deep meaning. Christmas tells us that hope is born in humble places. That brokenness is not the end of the story. That renewal often begins quietly
one choice, one day, one step at a time.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2

That light is still here.
💪🏻 It shines on second chances.
💪🏻 It shines on those rebuilding their lives.
💪🏻 It shines on every person choosing healing over hiding.

If this year has been hard, let Christmas remind you:
your past does not disqualify you from a hopeful future.
New beginnings don’t wait for perfection—they begin with willingness.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier soldier 🪖

#soberfitness

12/24/2025

God is With Us In The Middle Of Our Mess

Christmas is not about perfect families, perfect photos, or perfect lives.
It is about God stepping into a broken world, on purpose.

For someone in addiction recovery, that truth matters deeply.

You may look at your life right now and see:

Relationships that are strained or distant

Regrets from Christmases you do not fully remember

An empty chair at the table

A heart that still feels fragile, raw, or unworthy

But the message of Christmas is not “fix yourself and then come to God.”
The message is
“God came to you.”

Scripture says:

They shall call his name Immanuel
(which means, God with us)
Matthew 1:23

God is with us.
Not just with the strong.
Not just with the religious.
Not just with the people who got it right the first time.

💪🏻 God is with the addict in early recovery.
💪🏻 God is with the man or woman sitting alone tonight, trying not to relapse.
💪🏻 God is with the parent who lost years to addiction and is now slowly rebuilding trust.
💪🏻 God is with the one who feels ashamed to even pray.

Christmas is proof that:

God is not afraid of your darkness

He is not surprised by your past

He is willing to enter the chaos, not wait for it to disappear

If you are sober today, you are already living in a miracle.
If you are struggling today, you are still not abandoned.

So tonight, instead of chasing a feeling, pause and remember a fact:
The same God who came as a child in a manger comes into your life right now with grace, mercy, and a new beginning.

You may not have the
“picture-perfect” Christmas.
You do have access to a perfect Savior who is willing to walk every step of recovery with you.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

12/23/2025

Dealing With Family Drama Without Reaching for a Drink

For a lot of people in recovery, the hardest part of the holidays is not the parties or the office events. It is family.

Old roles. Old wounds. Old tension that nobody wants to talk about—but everybody feels.

In the past, you may have used alcohol or drugs to get through it. To numb the comments. To survive the arguments. To swallow the shame.

Now you are sober, and everything feels louder:
The criticism.
The judgment.
The passive-aggressive remarks.

Here is the truth:
You do not have to earn your seat at the table by sacrificing your recovery.

Here are a few tools to carry with you into any family situation:

Lower your expectations, not your standards
You cannot control how your family behaves.
You can control what you expect from them and how you respond.
Expect them to be who they have always been—and commit to being someone different.

Use the pause
When a comment stings or an argument starts to build, pause.
Breathe.
Remind yourself: “I do not have to react the way I used to.”
A five-second pause can save your sobriety.

Set quiet boundaries
Boundaries do not always need speeches.
Sometimes they look like stepping outside, changing the subject, walking into another room, or deciding to leave early.
You are allowed to protect your peace.

Have a support lifeline
Before you go, tell a sponsor, mentor, or friend:
“I may need you today.”
If things get heated, step away and call or text. You are not weak for needing support. You are wise.

Remember why you are there
You are not there to fix everyone.
You are not there to prove you have changed.
You are there to honor your recovery, show up with integrity, and leave with your sobriety intact.

Family drama may not change overnight.
But you can.
And every time you choose peace over poison, you are breaking a generational pattern.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier

12/22/2025

When Everyone Else Is Drinking: How To Stay Sober Without Feeling Left Out

Holiday gatherings can make sobriety feel like you are on the outside looking in. Glasses clink, jokes get louder, people “loosen up,” and a part of you might think, “I am the only one not joining in.”

First, remember this:
You are not missing out on connection. You are missing out on chaos.

The old you reached for a drink to belong, to relax, to hide pain.
The new you is learning how to be present without numbing out. That is real strength.

Here are a few ways to handle it:

Change the story in your head
Instead of “Everyone is having fun except me,” shift it to:
“I get to remember tonight.”
“I get to leave clear, not ashamed.”
“I am building a life I do not have to escape from.”

Keep something in your hand
Have water, soda, or a non-alcoholic drink. It reduces pressure and constant offers. You are not obligated to explain your choice to anyone.

Connect with the right people
Find the ones who talk, listen, and laugh without needing to get drunk to do it. Real connection does not require alcohol.

Have a check-in person
Before you go, text your sponsor, mentor, or a friend in recovery:
“I am going to this event. If I message you, answer.”
Knowing you have a lifeline changes how alone you feel.

Give yourself permission to leave
If the atmosphere shifts, if you feel old urges rising, you do not stay to be polite. You leave to stay alive. Sobriety is more important than anyone’s opinion.

You are not the odd one out.
You are the one doing the brave thing in a room full of people running from their own pain.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier

12/21/2025

Build Your Holiday Battle Plan (Do Not Wing Your Recovery)

The holidays are loaded with triggers, emotions, and pressure.
If you go in without a plan, you are relying on willpower alone—and that is not enough.
Recovery is not about hoping you stay sober. It is about preparing to stay sober.

1. List Your Top Triggers
Write them down:

People

Places

Feelings (lonely, rejected, left out, ashamed)

Times of day you feel most vulnerable

If you can see it, you can prepare for it.

2. Choose Your Safe People
Pick at least three:

Sponsor or mentor

Friend in recovery

Trusted family member

These are the people you contact when urges spike. Decide now, not in crisis.

3. Set Your Non-Negotiables
Examples:

I do not go to events where I feel pressured to drink or use.

I leave any situation where my sobriety feels at risk.

I do not keep alcohol or drugs in my home.

If my thoughts start slipping, I reach out within minutes.

Non-negotiables remove “maybe” and “just this once.”

4. Plan a Simple Daily Routine

Morning: prayer, reading, or journaling

Movement: walk, workout, or stretching

Nutrition: regular meals and hydration

Connection: call, meeting, or message with someone in recovery

Night: reflect on the day and recommit to tomorrow

Structure protects you when emotions swing.

5. Write Down Your Why
Why you chose recovery, who you are doing it for, what you refuse to go back to, and what kind of life you are building.
Read it when temptation hits. Your feelings will forget. Your written “why” will not.

You cannot control the holidays, but you can control how prepared you are.
You are not just surviving the season—you are learning how to stand your ground and walk into the new year stronger.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

12/20/2025

When Your Mind Turns Against You: Regret, Shame, and “What’s the Point?”

The holidays can flip a switch in your head.

Memories hit.
Photos pop up.
You start thinking about everything you lost in addiction—time, trust, relationships, opportunities.

And then the spiral starts:

“I ruined everything.”

“They will never see me differently.”

“What’s the point of staying Clean & Sobe ?”

That voice is not truth.
That is addiction talking, using your own thoughts as a weapon.

What’s Really Going On
In recovery, your brain is still rewiring. Old patterns of thinking—shame, hopelessness, self-attack—are deeply ingrained.
The holidays stir all of it up at once.

Addiction loves three thought traps:

Regret: “If only I had quit sooner.”

Shame: “I am the problem.”

Hopelessness: “Nothing I do now will matter.”

Here is the reality:

Regret means your conscience is alive.

Shame is lying about who you are now.

Hopelessness ignores the progress you have already made.

How to Fight Back Today
Catch the Thought
When you hear “What’s the point?” or “You ruined everything,” do not let it slide by. Name it:
“That is addiction talking. That is not me.”

Replace It with Truth
Use simple, grounding truths like:
“I cannot change my past, but I can change my next choice.”
“Staying sober today does matter, even if no one sees it.”

Take One Grounding Action

Text or call someone in recovery

Read a short devotional, Bible verse, or recovery reading

Do a short walk, a few squats, or some deep breathing

Thoughts can drag you back into old stories.
Your job is not to believe every thought that shows up.

You are not your past.
You are your next decision.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

12/19/2025

Surviving Holiday Parties Without Numbing Out

Holiday gatherings can be dangerous territory in recovery.
Alcohol on every table. Old stories. Old roles. People saying, “Come on, just one.”

You do not have to hide from life
—but you also do not have to walk in unprotected.

Before You Go

Decide if you should even be there.
If it is mostly drinking, chaos, or old using buddies, it is okay to say no. Protecting your sobriety is not being rude.

Have a plan.
Drive yourself. Set a time limit. Know what time you are leaving before you arrive.

While You Are There

Keep something in your hand.
Water, soda, or a non-alcoholic drink. It stops people from constantly offering you “just one.”

Stick close to safe people.
Hang with the ones who respect your recovery, not the ones who test it.

Take breaks.
Step outside. Breathe. Text or call someone in recovery if the urge creeps in.

Know Your Exit

You do not owe anyone an explanation for leaving early.
If the energy shifts, the pressure builds, or your gut says “this is not safe,” you walk out. That is strength, not weakness.

You are not the old you anymore.
You are allowed to choose peace over fitting in.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

12/18/2025

How to Ride Out Cravings Without Giving In

Holiday stress. Old memories. Lonely nights.
Sometimes it all crashes at once… and the urge hits hard.

That “one drink,” “one pill,” or “one hit” starts whispering in your ear again.
But here is the truth:

A craving is a wave.
It builds.
It peaks.
It passes.

You do not have to obey it.

What Is Urge Surfing?
Urge surfing is a simple mental tool:
Instead of fighting the craving or giving into it, you ride it out.
You notice it, breathe through it, and watch it rise and fall like a wave.

Try This When an Urge Hits:
1️⃣ Pause
Do not move. Do not act. Just stop.
Tell yourself: “This is a craving. It will pass.”

2️⃣ Breathe
Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4, exhale for 6–8.
Slow your breathing, slow your brain.

3️⃣ Observe the Urge
Where do you feel it? Chest, throat, stomach?
Rate it from 1–10. Notice how it changes, even slightly.

4️⃣ Delay the Decision
Tell yourself: “If I still want to use in 20 minutes, I can decide then.”
In those 20 minutes, call someone, walk, pray, or journal.

Most urges peak within minutes, then start to fall.
You just have to outlast the wave.

Every craving you ride out without using is not just a victory.
It is your brain rewiring.
It is proof: you are stronger than the urge.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

12/17/2025

People, Places, and Things: Spot Your Holiday Triggers Before They Hit 🎄🚨

In addiction, there is a simple truth:
People, places, and things can pull you back quicker than any craving that “comes out of nowhere.”

The holidays are loaded with all three.

The people you used to drink or use with

The places where you partied, blacked out, or bought

The things that remind you of old patterns: a certain song, a bar, a neighborhood, a smell

If you do not spot these triggers ahead of time, you will walk straight into them unarmed.

🎯 Step 1: Make a Trigger Map
Take 5 to 10 minutes and write three lists:

People: Who makes it harder to stay sober? Old using buddies, certain family members, that “party friend” who never stops pushing drinks

Places: Bars, houses, streets, or towns that are tied to your using days

Things: Songs, holidays, smells, certain dates, social media memories, even specific times of day

Seeing them on paper turns “vague danger” into clear targets.

💪🏻 Step 2: Give Each Trigger a Plan
For every big trigger, ask:

If I see this person or place What is my plan?

Avoid it completely?

Bring a sober friend?

Have a reason to leave early?

Call my sponsor before and after?

Triggers are not a sign you are failing.
They are a sign you need strategy, not shame.

You do not have to be surprised by the holidays.
You can go in prepared.

Keep Pushing Forward
Keep Showing Up
Stay a Sober Soldier 🪖

Sober Soldier

12/28/2025

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