Addiction has such a death-grip on so many people. Whether you consider your addiction minor or realize it has major control over your life and you desire to quit but just can’t seem to, here are some tips to surviving stopping your addiction.
But first, let me tell you that I’ve walked this road so I know what I’m talking about. After a ten-year long struggle to finally stop my addiction, the keys finally fell into place and I was permanently set free.
Second, even though I was a born-again Christian during this long battle, God didn’t miraculously cure me of my addiction. So I know a lot of the internal doubts and fears of being able to permanently kick the habit. I’m here to tell you that most of the following tips are not taught in any recovery program.
7 Tips To Survive Stopping Your Addiction
(1) Recognize that what you’re being taught in support groups and recovery programs isn’t working! Why? Because they’re not dealing with the underlying causes. Look at the next three tips to discover these causes.
(2) Learn how to develop healthy, loving relationships. First with God, then with others. Only God loves you unconditionally and will never leave you. When you learn how to receive His love and understand how He loves you even with all your faults and failures, then you can learn how to love others with this same kind of love.
(3) Discover what you are passionate about in life and how to put it into a life-long vision of reaching out to love and serve others. Do you have dreams that were put on the shelf years ago? Well, now is the time to take them down, dust them off, and start working on them. Yes, even this very moment when you’re still stuck in your addiction.
(4) Learn a simple technique that stops any anxieties, fears, or apprehensions you deal with whenever you are tempted to use your addiction. You don’t have to depend upon other people to be available at the time you’re being tempted. You can use this technique anytime, any place.
(5) If you’re a Christian, you need to understand your new identity in Christ and why you’re still stuck in your old habits and stinking thinking. While your spirit was transformed upon salvation, your soul (mind, will emotions) and your body (5 senses) weren’t. It’s now a matter of bringing your soul and body under the submission to the work of God in your life.
(6) Do you need to change the people you hang around with? If you weren’t hanging around other people who also struggle with an addiction (support groups), what can you be doing to work on your awesome dream for your life? Can you find a place to volunteer doing what you’re passionate about? This is a great way to make new, healthy friendships.
(7) What is your motivation to quit your addiction? Write down all the negative things you’re avoiding by doing your addiction. Write down all the negative consequences of doing your addiction. Now, write down all the positive things in life you would like to do if you weren’t tied to this addiction habit. You see, it’s not a matter of “will power,” but of having a strong enough positive motivation to pull you out of your addiction and into working on your awesome future.
These are the top seven tips. I’ve got more to share with you. The most important thing you can do right now is to download the free mp3 “8 Immediate Action Steps To Take!” Tip #4 above is item two on this recording. You can find it at my website . Kathy Williamson, The Addictions Coach.
