THE TOOLS OF RECOVERY FROM ADDICTION
(New Beginnings Aftercare Programme — SANCA National)
The First Rule of Recovery is that you must change your life and avoid high-risk situations. The second rule and tool to recover from addiction is how to learn to relax.
The third rule and tool to recover from addiction is: BE HONEST
An addiction requires lying. You have to lie about getting your drug, using it, hiding its consequences, and planning your next relapse. An addiction is full of lying. By the time you have developed an addiction, lying comes so easily to you. After a while you get so good at lying that you end up lying to yourself. That’s why addicts don't know who they are or what they believe in. The other problem with lying is that you can’t like yourself when you lie. You can’t face yourself in the mirror. Lying traps you in your addiction. The more you lie, the less you like yourself, which makes you want to escape, which leads to more using and lying. Nothing changes, if nothing changes. Ask yourself this: will more lying, more isolating and more of the same make you feel better? The expression in AA is—nothing changes if nothing changes. If you don't change you life , then why would this time be any different? You need to create a new life where it’s easier to not use.
RECOVERY REQUIRES COMPLETE HONESTY
You must be one-hundred percent completely honest with the people who are your support systems: your family, your doctor, your therapist, the people from your support group. If you can’t be completely honest with them, you won’t do well in recovery.
When you’re completely honest you don't give your addiction room to hide. When you lie you leave the door open to relapse.
One mistake people make in the early stages of recovery is they think that honesty means being honest about other people. They think they should share what’s wrong with our people. But recovery isn't about fixing other people. It’s about fixing yourself. Stick with your own recovery. Focusing on what you don't like about others is easy because it deflects attention from yourself.
Honesty won’t come naturally in the beginning. You’ve spent so much time learning how to lie that telling the truth, no matter how good it is for you, won’t feel natural. You’ll have to practice telling the truth a few hundred times before it comes a little easier. In the beginning you’ll have to stop yourself as you are telling a story, and say, “now that I think about it, it was more like this…..”
SHOW COMMON SENSE
Not everybody is your best friend. And not everybody will be glad to know that you have an addiction or that you’re doing something about it. There may be some people who you don't want to tell about your recovery. But don't be reluctant to tell the people close to you about your recovery. You should never be ashamed that you are doing something about your addiction.
