One of my favorite ways to keep myself inspired is by writing motivational recovery quotes in my sober journal. Celebrating your sobriety milestones with beautiful quotes throughout the pages makes me want to pick it up and write and spend time in it.
My sober journal is a gratitude journal where I incorporate inspirational quotes and little doodles with my favorite gel pens. In addition, I’m obsessed with glitter ink and making things pretty.
Finally, I’m old-school and appreciate handwritten journaling. However, digitally editable sober journal options are available if you prefer. Incorporating addiction quotes is a powerful motivator. So here are some of my favorite motivational quotes to encourage you on your recovery journey.
Early Recovery Quotes
During the early stages of recovery, it is vital that you spend time working on your recovery every day. Whether attending meetings, journaling, or participating in a church recovery group, don’t walk the road alone. You don’t have to! These inspirational quotes are perfect for early-stage recovery.
- “Recovery is not a race. You don’t have to feel guilty if it takes you longer than you thought it would.” – Anonymous.
- “I think that the power is in the principle. The principle of moving forward, as though you have the confidence to move forward, eventually gives you confidence when you look back and see what you’ve done.” – Robert Downey Jr.
- “The mentality and behavior of drug addicts and alcoholics is wholly irrational until you understand that they are completely powerless over their addiction and unless they have structured help, they have no hope.” – Russel Brand.
- “The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” – Jordan Belfort.
- “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis.
- “When everything seems like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.” – Unknown.
- ‘If it wasn’t for that rehab center, I probably wouldn’t have been here. In terms of recovery, it has been very important for me to be a part of a recovery community, to actively be around my people because they understand me. They get it.” – Macklemore.
- “One thing you must realize is that: you either kill your addiction or your addiction will eventually kill you.”― Oche Otorkpa.
- “It’s okay to bleed on someone who didn’t cut you. Don’t wait until you’re scarred over to ask for help. Healing starts when the wound is still new.”― Toni Sorenson.
- “I really mean it when I say my biggest fear in early recovery was that I would never have fun again. The beautiful truth is that recovery has given me freedom and the confidence to go out in the world and leave my own mark.” – Tom Stoddart.
- “You need only allow gentle hope to enter your heart. Exhale and allow hope, and give yourself some time. This is a process of change that requires a good deal of self-compassion, which is neither stagnant nor permissive. We can just start by being a little kinder to ourselves and open to the possibility that life doesn’t have to be bloody awful. ― Russell Brand.
- “What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.” – Hecato.
Motivational Recovery Quotes
Motivational recovery quotes are perfect reminders to add to your sober journal or print off and hang up around your home. When I first got sober, I wrote sobriety quotes on colorful post-it notes and hung them up where I could see them.
- “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar.
- “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks.
- “Cause sometimes you just feel tired. Feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up. But you gotta search within you. You gotta find that inner strength. And just pull it out of you, and get that motivation to not give up, and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face.” – Eminem.
- “Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you.” – Aldous Huxley.
- “Sometimes we motivate ourselves by thinking of what we want to become. Sometimes we motivate ourselves by thinking about who we don’t ever want to be again.” – Shane Niemeyer.
- “All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn.
- “As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world… as in being able to remake ourselves.” – Mahatma Gandhi.
- “Understanding the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism is critical to laying down the shield and picking up your life.” – Brené Brown.
- “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” – Helen Keller.
- “If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling, but the staying down.” – Mary Pickford.
- “Recovery is something that you have to work on every single day, and it’s something that it doesn’t get a day off.” — Demi Lovato.
- “I have no power at all over people, places, and things, and if I ever for a moment mistakenly believe that I do, and act as if I do, pain is on its way.” ― Russell Brand.
Short Recovery Quotes
Sometimes the best recovery quotes are short, sweet, and to the point. Here is a handful of some that are in my sober journal today. The first two quotes are great daily reminders to have posted somewhere right in your face. You’ve taken your life back. You rock star!
- “Don’t let the past steal your present.” –Terri Guillemets.
- “Recovery is hard. Regret is harder.” – Brittany Burgunder.
- “Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving; we get stronger and more resilient.”– Steve Maraboli.
- “No matter how dark the night may get, your light will never burn out.” – Jeanette LeBlanc.
- “One of the hardest things was learning that I was worth recovery.” – Demi Lovato.
- “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker.
- “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra.
- “Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.” – Wayne W. Dyer.
- “You have to break down before you can breakthrough.” – Marilyn Ferguson.
- “Nobody stays recovered unless the life they have created is more rewarding and satisfying than the one they left behind.” – Anne Fletcher.
- “If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you.” – Mary Pickford.
- “Your addiction is not you, but it feels like you because you’ve spent so much intimate time together.” – Toni Sorenson.
- “My favorite six words in recovery are: trust God, clean house, and help others.” — Matthew Perry.
- “It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius.
- “You can never quench your spiritual craving through material means.” ― Russell Brand.
- “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson.
- “If you can quit for a day, you can quit for a lifetime.” ― Benjamin Alire Sáen
Inspirational Recovery Quotes
I hope these inspirational recovery quotes are what you need to read to celebrate your new life in sobriety. When I go to darker places, I pull out my inspirational recovery quote cards and remind myself of how far I’ve come. Also, the practice of writing in a sober journal is the best way to experience personal healing. So give try it moving forward and let me know how it goes. I’m rooting for you.
- “Sometimes you can only find Heaven by slowly backing away from Hell.” – Carrie Fisher.
- “My recovery from drug addiction is the single greatest accomplishment of my life… but it takes work — hard, painful work — but the help is there, in every town and career, drug/drink freed members of society, from every single walk and talk of life to help and guide.” – Jamie Lee Curtis.
- “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
- “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway.
- “We honor ourselves when we speak out for recovery. We show the world that recovery matters because it brings hope and peace into the lives of individuals and their loved ones.” – Beth Wilson.
- “Amazing how we can light tomorrow with today.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
- “You can come out of the furnace of trouble two ways: if you let it consume you, you come out a cinder; but there is a kind of metal which refuses to be consumed, and comes out a star.” – Jean Church.
- “The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines.” – Richard Rohr.
- “Relax. Breathe. It takes time, but there is a great joy to be had in moments of every day. Just remember, you’re learning new steps, a new dance.” — Lisa Frederiksen.
- “Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest.” – Robert Downey Jr.
- “Part of that change is forgiveness and the willingness to look at our lives and the world differently. Ask yourself, ‘Do I really want to change, or do I just want to justify staying the way that I am? ― Russell Brand.
You may have noticed that I love Russell Brand’s motivational quotes. He has many good ones! Congratulations on your recovery journey. I’ve included 52 recovery quotes to include one each week. I’m grateful to make new friends in recovery. Do you have any favorite inspirational quotes that didn’t make my list? Please add them to the comments below.
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Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.