A sober summer bucket list can be an ideal way to plan out a fun-filled season. With a number of inspiring activities to strive toward, you can find even more reasons to maintain your recovery for years to come.
The Importance of Fun in Recovery
Many people make the mistake of thinking that recovery is only about abstinence. In reality, recovery is about building a healthy, productive, and enjoyable life free from substance use. If you only focus on how to resist drinking or using drugs, you can find yourself not being able to enjoy your recovery and ultimately put yourself at risk of relapse.
When you spend your sobriety worried about how to stay abstinent, in a way, your life still revolves around substance use. Taking the steps toward having fun in recovery can provide your life with a new sense of meaning and purpose and ultimately make the journey toward recovery much more positive and sustainable.
A sober summer bucket list can help you start this process. Building a sober summer bucket list is a commitment to yourself to make the most of recovery, try new things, and experience the activities you may have missed out on while living with a substance use disorder.
Building a Sober Summer Bucket List
Creating a sober summer bucket list is a deeply personal process, focused on emphasizing your wants, needs, ambitions, and desires. When creating your personal bucket list, try to focus on activities and ideas that are:
- Conducive to your sobriety
- Achievable
- Pleasant
- Memorable
While it’s important to set goals for yourself in terms of your career or education, such goals may not necessarily fit onto a summer bucket list. Try to choose activities and experiences that you enjoy for their own sake, not because of what they can bring to you in the future.
Goals for success are important, but keep in mind that a bucket list is about doing the things that bring you joy.
10 Engaging Ideas for Summer Activities
The possibilities are endless when it comes to creating a summer bucket list. If you’re unsure where to start, consider these 10 exciting ideas.
1. Experience Travel
Travel and exploration can be one of the most fulfilling and rewarding activities in your sobriety. Whether you want to visit a new country, go on a road trip, or even take a cruise with friends, exploring the world can be a perfect way to enjoy your recovery and spread your cultural horizons.
If it’s your first time traveling sober, there are a few tips you can try to help make sure that you maintain your sobriety on your trip. First, don’t schedule any travel if you don’t feel confident in your recovery to begin with. Airports, hectic travel days, and separating yourself from the people who hold you accountable can all be risk factors for people new to sobriety.
Bringing along a sober friend or someone who supports you in your recovery can be another effective way to keep your recovery at the forefront of your travel experience. Whether that be a friend, family member, or romantic partner, a summer getaway can be a memorable and cherished experience for both of you.
2. Climb the Highest Peaks
If you’re an outdoor fanatic, summer can be the perfect opportunity to hit the trail and summit the mountains. Reaching the top of a mountain summit can be an invigorating and memorable experience, providing you with a goal to work toward that comes with a fantastic payoff when you achieve it.
Hikers come from around the world to test their hiking aptitude against Colorado’s 58 peaks and over 14,000 feet in elevation gain; you can see some of the Rocky Mountains from APN Lodge in Edwards, Colorado. Setting a goal to tackle a 14er is a lofty ambition, but it can be an exciting addition to your sober summer bucket list.
Of course, you don’t need to climb mountains to incorporate the outdoors into your summer plans. Simply making a plan to hit the trails, camp out with your friends, and enjoy the natural beauty of summer can be a rewarding and enjoyable summer activity.
3. Learn to Dance
Signing up for dance lessons can be an ideal activity to swing into summer with. Dance classes are held year-round but typically see an increase in participants during the summer months when people have more free time and want to spend it mastering a fun and challenging skill.
There are many different styles of dance that you can include in your sober summer bucket list, including:
- Swing dancing
- Salsa
- Hip hop dance
- Ballroom dancing
- Latin dance
- Samba
- Contemporary dance
Consider looking up what dance classes are available in your area and bringing a sober friend along to share the experience with.
4. Take Up a Creative Pursuit
The creative arts can be an enriching way to spend your free time during summer. Whether that’s learning to play a new instrument, drawing or painting, or engaging in creative writing, each avenue can help you find purpose and fulfillment during a sober summer.
If you want to add a creative goal to your sober summer bucket list, consider achievable goals such as:
- Learning to play your favorite song on the guitar
- Taking piano lessons
- Making your first oil painting
- Sending in a poem for publication
Each one of these goals gives you something to work toward, a way to spend your free time productively, and the fulfillment of improving a skill for its own sake.
5. Be a Tourist in Your Hometown
Most people enjoy traveling and sightseeing while on vacation but often miss the tourist attractions that are just outside their front door. Consider taking a tourist tour of the place where you already live to get a greater appreciation of your hometown and break up summer monotony.
One way to plan a hometown tour is to look up your town or city’s tourist website. You might find information about local places of interest, with common sights such as:
- Local museums or art galleries
- Monuments or sculptures
- Natural formations
- Playhouses, orchestras, or performing arts groups
Spend some time exploring your city as if it were brand new to you and see what hidden treasures are just outside your door.
6. Head to a Local Concert
Summertime will often bring outdoor concerts and festivals. When adding a concert to your summer bucket list, it’s usually a good idea to check ahead of time who’s coming to town, what festivals are playing, and what type of music they’ll be playing.
Concerts can sometimes be triggering environments for people new to recovery. Before you sign up for a festival, check in with how confident you feel in your recovery, make a plan for dealing with any potential triggers at the event, and consider inviting a sober friend to join you.
Remember that recovery isn’t about removing things from your life; it’s about freeing yourself from the bonds of addictive behaviors so that you have more freedom to enjoy the things you want to during a sober summer.
7. Spend an Evening Stargazing
Cool summer nights make for exceptional stargazing weather. Consider looking up dark sky zones in your area, where city lights don’t interfere with observing the night sky, and travel with some friends to look up at the cosmos in the dead of night.
Alternatively, you can look for local observatories that welcome the public to take a closer look with specialized telescopes and equipment. Visiting an observatory can provide you with stunning views of the other planets in our solar system, nebulas deep in outer space, and constellations of stars not visible to the naked eye.
8. Host a Party or Game Night for You and Your Friends
A sober summer party can be a great addition to your bucket list. What type of party you have is up to you and your friends’ taste, but some popular options include:
- Movie marathon night
- Game night
- Costume party
- Pool party
- Backyard barbecue
When planning a sober party, make sure to tell your friends not to bring alcohol or addictive substances, and make sure to invite the people who support you in your recovery. Rather than focusing on drinking, try to emphasize companionship, having a good time, and eating delicious food.
9. Give Back to Your Community
Volunteering for a local cause can do wonders for your mental health and provide a sense of purpose and meaning to your summer activities. Whether it’s volunteering for a local food bank, donating your time to a homeless shelter, or supporting a local religious organization, each option can make for a sober summer activity with a ripple effect.
In recovery circles, it’s common to hear that giving back to others is one of the surest ways of maintaining your own sobriety. While in 12-step groups, this means helping other people with substance use disorders, you can give back to any number of people in your community to experience the same positive experience.
Try setting a goal for yourself for your sober summer bucket list to donate a hundred hours, plant a hundred trees, or make a meaningful impact on your community through volunteer work. Not only can this make you feel good about yourself and your community, but it can also be a great way to meet new people with shared values that can support you on your journey toward recovery.
10. Plan a Beach Day
If you live in a coastal area, planning a beach day is often a summer bucket list essential. The beach can be an escape from the summer heat, a fun place to meet with friends and family, and a space to play volleyball, go surfing, or just take a swim in the waves.
Before heading out, make sure you pack these beach essentials:
- A comfortable beach towel
- Sunscreen
- Plenty of water to stay hydrated
- An umbrella and hat
- Sunglasses
- A book or e-reader
Make sure to invite your friends in recovery, too, for an even more unforgettable memory.
Find Sober Support With APN Today
Getting sober isn’t always easy and staying sober carries a number of challenges on its own. If you haven’t been able to achieve sobriety on your own, or just feel like you need a little extra support to make your recovery last, consider reaching out to the team at APN.
We’re dedicated to providing our clients with an abundance of evidence-based treatment options to help them break free from addiction and build stronger, healthier lives in recovery. Contact our team today by calling 855-934-1178, using the live chat function on our website, or filling out our confidential online contact form to start enjoying recovery to its fullest.
References
- Samhsa’s Working Definition of Recovery, store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/pep12-recdef.pdf. Accessed 12 Aug. 2024.
