I am a true believer in abstinence based recovery. It does not make sense to me to take someone off their addiction by replacing that addiction with other forms of legal drugs. By doing so, the addict still does not have to deal with the underlying issue which he or she had been trying to cover up and avoid by the use of some substance whether it is drugs, alcohol or food. It is important that we deal with all aspects of the person and also his/her environment and by doing so, I believe the person has a much higher chance of going and STAYING in recovery. Having said that here are my top 10 advice on how to beat your addiction.
- Be honest. This step really establishes where you are right now and if you really want to change?
- You need to be prepared to change every aspect of your life. This may include replacing friends, places and things. It is very important to reduce the level of stress during the process of going into recovery. By reducing the things or people that engage you to that addiction, your chance of success will increase. Let go of the old life. ie. Lighter collections, flask collections., bongs.
- Cut ties with anything that does not serve who you want to be.
- Get rid of the ritual part of the addiction. Ie. Morning coffee with cigarette. Even the process of rolling of the cigarette is part of the addiction.
- Find support/people that can help you. People that are capable of loving you unconditionally.
- Ease up about you own guilt about your addiction and your relapses.
- Give yourself a break. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Being hard on yourself only adds more stress to the process and because guilt is a negative emotion that you want to escape, this may result in your wanting the addiction to self sooth.
- MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT: You need to dive into the motivation behind the addiction. Find out what you are using your addiction to cover up. People don’t just wake up one day and say I want to be addicted to something. Addiction still serves you when the motivation is not dealt with and that is why most people fail.
- Put a plan in place in your getting off your addiction. Start structuring your life on what to do with your life INSTEAD of the addiction. Ie. Put gum in your mouth instead of a cigarette, make a plan to call all your friends, make a plan to go for a run. Choose another action instead of the addiction. Visualize forward so if you relapsed, how would that make you feel 1 day after, 2 day after, 3 day after. Visualize it. It will start to look less enticing.
- Start treating your body and health seriously. Structure diet, sleep, exercise, people, friends, and activities. These all bring you into balance. They help get rid of toxins and help you achieve positive thoughts. When you have an addiction, you don’t love yourself yet. The more you practice loving yourself with thoughts, actions (physical, emotional, spiritual), the less the addiction will have a hold of you.
- Learn how to meditate. Relaxation is essential.
If you are ready to ditch your addiction and uncover what was the original cause for your addiction and transform those beliefs you had form about yourself, then contact me today and set up a free phone consultation on how I can help you.
Namaste,
Elaine
