Recovery is a lifelong process. It takes hard work and patience. And like a chronic disease, recovery from alcohol abuse and dependence is a gradual process with occasional setbacks.

An important part of recovery is accepting that alcoholism is an illness that requires treatment. It is not a character flaw or a sign of weakness. If you are physically dependent on alcohol, you can't control your drinking. You have to quit. Getting sober is the first step; recovery is the ongoing process of staying sober.

All people in recovery need ongoing treatment and support. Most people attend support groups as part of their program of recovery. Support groups provide a network of people you can call upon if you are thinking about drinking again. Individual counseling and family therapy might also be helpful. Through counseling and support groups, you can learn the skills that you need to stay sober.

It is also important to identify triggers that cause you to want to drink. Recognize the high-risk situations where you have typically used alcohol—at social activities or parties, after work, during stressful events or crises, on holidays, or when you feel lonely. Next, prioritize the most risky situations and develop a strategy for how to handle them without alcohol. These strategies might include avoiding certain situations or people, rehearsing what you will say when you are offered a drink, practicing meditation or other relaxation techniques to manage stress, or using prescribed medicine to help you stay sober.

Expect that you might have a lapse from sobriety. A lapse is the first episode of alcohol use after you have quit. A lapse can be just that, a one-time slip for which you take responsibility and that you take steps to prevent in the future. If you have a lapse, try to identify the triggers that caused it, and use the situation as a learning experience.

A relapse is the failure to stay sober over time. Realize that relapse is a common part of recovery. An important part of recovery is reducing how often and how severely you relapse.

Many people with an alcohol use problem also have other medical or mental health conditions that need specific treatment. You might have misused alcohol to medicate yourself because of depression, chronic pain, or other problems. Treating these other conditions is critical to your successful recovery. You will need your body and mind to be fully functional to help you through the process of recovery.