If you are trying to beat an addiction, a well thought out game plan is needed. Here are a few addiction recovery strategies laid out in an easily understood article.
Beat Your Addiction Through These Key Tactics
By Patrick Meninga 
What is the best way to beat your addiction? There are certain steps you can take that will allow you to do so, but where do you begin?
It doesn’t matter what you are addicted to, the important thing is that you start taking action if you want to move towards changing yourself.
That is the first main point that you must understand: recovery is all about action. You can sit and read books or web pages about it all day long, but until you start taking action and doing some stuff in order to work towards a new life in recovery, you will not get the results you want. This is because your new life in recovery must be created through action. Deliberate, purposeful action.
There are a couple of other key points you will need to implement in order to achieve lasting recovery. What is critical is that you understand which of these strategies should be used in early recovery, versus which strategies are more appropriate for long term sobriety.
The first strategy you will need in recovery is that of networking with others. Now this is particularly important for early recovery because of two different reasons. The first reason we need peer support in early recovery is for the added support and identification that we get from interacting with others. We need to know that we are not alone in how we feel and reaching out to other addicts in recovery is critical for this.
The second reason we need the peer support is for learning. We need to learn how to live again. This is the first major goal of your early recovery. Continuous learning is the only thing that will sustain your sobriety and if you don’t keep learning then eventually you’ll end up relapsing. And how can we learn in recovery? Not from reading recovery literature but instead from our friends in recovery and their stories.
The next tactic for recovery is about self esteem and caring about yourself. Now this might sound obvious but the typical addict or alcoholic has to relearn how to take care of themselves. We have typically abused ourselves and our bodies for so long that leaning towards good health seems unnatural.
Not only do we need to care for ourselves, but we need to do it in many different ways and on many different levels. So we are talking about going above and beyond mere physical health and abstinence from drugs and alcohol. We want to consider changes in our diet, getting more exercise, getting good sleep, watching our emotional health and stability, and getting plenty of rest and relaxation. And so on. Our view of health in recovery needs to be a holistic one. That means we take care of ourselves in every area of our life.
Finally, we want to employ the strategy of personal growth. Or rather, we are going to have to push ourselves to pursue personal growth. Again, the question arises: how should we grow as a person? And the answer is again: holistically.
We want to look at different methods of growth and continue to learn new things in our sobriety. This is the key to long term success and overcoming complacency. When we get complacent in our recovery we run the risk of relapse. So we must push ourselves beyond laziness and inaction so that we can avoid this outcome.
If you consider these 3 strategies then you will see that they can work together to form a complete strategy for recovery. Focus on the networking and learning in early recovery, then shift over to holistic growth and long term health habits as you enter long term recovery. This is the most solid strategy for long term success. Good luck!
And now I invite you to learn more about addiction
Visit http://www.spiritualriver.com/
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I can vouch for peer support! I was an alcoholic and, if it weren’t for my support group, I would have stayed one. Of course, you still need dedication and you still have to have the willpower to keep at it, but without peer support you’re nothing. That’s what I believe.
Seriously, these are the main strategies for anyone fighting against addiction. They work great, but they can also be useless. What I mean is that if you don’t have the will power to succeed you will never be able to do anything, no matter what strategies you take or not.
Great post again. I imagine that everyone should already know about the subject, but you’d be surprised of how little people tend to know, especially on matters that are of life and death for them. So I always appreciate it when someone takes time from doing anything else and writes something meaningful for everyone else.
Trying to recover from addiction in a vacuum is extremely difficult if not impossible. Surrounding yourself with others who can empathize and support you will help in the journey toward becoming sober and clean. Great tips and reminders to all.
Good article.
The drugs are chemical weapons that taste good and cause insanity and death. We should use every available means to completely and permanently purge this most great affliction out of human nature.
The action I took to heal my addiction is the Narcotics Anonymous Program. Today, I practice the Baha’i Faith to continue to improve myself and help others. Allah’u'Abha
Reading the verses of the Bible that contain information of how he/she could fight addiction is also one of the best motivated themes I guess.
Point number two is a good one. This was a major issue for me. Before I got into recovery I would hear all the time from recovering alcoholics and addicts that you have no idea how far you have sunk. And they were right when you are in your cloud you don’t see it. You are the last one to notice and when you do the rim of the hole you are in is what seems like miles above you. I had to learn how to do everything all over again especially communication. And I am still learning these things today and I have been sober for 8 years .
The hardest part to beating addiction is admitting that you have a problem with with drugs or alcohol. Denial is very hard to overcome and peer support can help you see the problem in yourself by listening to the experiences of others.
that is very true drugs is a chemical that taste good but can make you go insane,,but on my opinion it depends on how you can control it..if you know how to control,then that’s fine….but if you can’t you better stop.. before it is too late,
.-= jet @ Overcome Laziness´s last blog ..How can I overcome laziness? =-.