Addiction Recovery

ADDICITION

This word evokes varying thoughts and emotions. If you are a person who currently struggles with an addiction it may bring pain, denial, sadness, defeat. Despite how you feel about yourself or think others view you, you are in need of support and kindness and assistance. Through this page it is our hope you feel the love and kindness it was written with, in wanting you to feel supported and safe in the journey to better health.

Listed here are some tools that may help a person deal with addictive behaviors.

Create positive self-talk Our beliefs are shaped by the language we use. Change your language and you will alter your thoughts. Thoughts, which are made up of words, influence our actions. Change your language to change your thoughts to change your actions.

LIMITING/FIXED MINDSET	HEALTHY/GROWTH MINDSET
I am an addict	I am drawn to addictive behavior
I have an addiction	I experience challenges
I am powerless to change	I have the power to change
I've tried so many times to stop	I may have experienced failure however every day I have the choice to work towards success
I can't do it	I will do my best
I have a problem	I am focusing on meeting a challenge
I am a failure	I haven't succeed yet
I'm sick, I'm in pain	I'm experiencing (descriptions of feelings and/or sensations)
Nobody cares about me	There are people who care
Nobody can understand me or knows what I'm going through	Everyone is on their own journey and there is someone who understand

Acceptance - allow yourself to feel your emotions.

Make room for unpleasant feelings, sensations, and urges. Allow them to come and go without struggling with them or running from them. Engaging in an addictive behavior is a means to feel in control. It is trying to control the emotions that make you feel sad or lonely or rejected or uncomfortable. By experiencing the emotion you start to come into contact with what needs to be addressed in order to change the addictive behavior.

Disengaging

Separate your thoughts and feelings from your actions. Remember that thoughts and feelings do not have to result in actions. Focus on identifying the issue rather than being consumed by struggling with your internal experiences.

Instead of expressing, "I need a drink," try framing it as "I’m experiencing the thought that I need to drink." Similarly, if you feel the urge to watch porn, instead of saying, "I need to watch porn to alleviate stress," say, "I’m experiencing the thought that I must watch porn to relieve stress."

Journaling

The act of writing your thoughts and feelings engages both sides of the brain and has the power to lead to clarity and understanding.

Create lists in your journal:

• Triggers

• Perceptions of yourself and others

• Strengths

  
  

Ideas to write about:

• People you are grateful for and why.

• What is most important to you.

• What sort of person do you want to be.

• What is significant and meaningful to you.

• What life experiences have had the most impact on you.

Goals

Break it down!Divide your goal of overcoming an addiction into smaller parts. (Another journal entry!) Write down the steps you think need to be accomplished to reach your ulitmate goal. Add to this list as new ideas come to you. Having a list you can refer back to helps organize your recovery journey. It gives you a place to keep going back to as a means of staying on your right path.

Remove the shame and guilt

Guilt and shame shroud addiction. Guilt and shame keep us stuck. Guilt and shame weigh us down. Allow the guilt to move you to change and then leave it behind. Allow the shame to move you to get help and then leave it behind. Guilt and shame are like prison cells. They hold us captive and don't allow movement. The prison door is unlocked. Take the first step and open the door.

Video about Addiction