10 Tips On How To Overcome Addiction
Addiction can ruin your life. Like all things in life, though, it can be overcome. In this article, we’re going to take a look at 10 tips on how you can overcome addiction.
When you were younger, you no doubt had a grim picture in your head of how someone who is addicted to something looked. Perhaps they had dark circles under their eyes, wrinkled skin, rope-like hair, and maybe their flesh clung to their bones. Perhaps they were constantly ill, always moody, and maybe they never had any money.
The truth, though, is that addiction doesn’t always look like this. Sometimes, we don’t even know when we’re addicted.
Moreover, addiction comes in many forms, and often the things we’re addicted to define how addiction affects us. Someone who is addicted to sugar or spending money won’t exactly look as gaunt or as hungered as someone who is addicted to drugs, but they’re still addicted.
In a society where so many things are available to us on tap, it’s easier than ever to find ourselves addicted to something. In this article, we’re going to offer 10 tips for overcoming addiction that apply to anyone who has some sort of addiction.
Whether you’re addicted to alcohol, drugs, smoking, spending, sugar, and so on, read on to see how we can help.
Assess Yourself
Before you begin to battle your addiction, you must first recognize that you’re addicted.
This isn’t always easy for people to do. It’s like when you’re clearly drunk but dismiss accusations that you’re drunk as nonsense.
“I’m not drunk, I’m totally fine!”
Many of us live in denial. Who reading this grew up with the knowledge that “addiction” was a dirty word? There has always been a stigma attached to addiction, and we grew up believing that only wasters and losers become addicted. So it takes a lot of courage to admit that WE are addicted.
Be blunt and honest with yourself. If you think you might be addicted to drugs, take a look at how often you use drugs and when. It’s the same with anything. How often do you drink? When do you drink?
Then assess your answer. How do they make you feel? Do they make you feel that you might have a problem?
The first step to solving any problem is admitting there is one in the first place.
Make Yourself Accountable
If you just tell yourself that you want to beat this addiction, you might find that you lack motivation. After all, you’re only accountable to yourself. Does it really matter if you let yourself down?
If, however, you tell someone else that you want to overcome this, you’re giving yourself greater motivation. Rarely do we want to fail when others are watching us?
Identify Your Triggers
We all have triggers that cause us to feed our addiction. Some people return to their addiction whenever they’re bored, while for others it’s their anxiety that overwhelms them to the point where they cave.
You need to know what your triggers are if you’re to beat your addiction. Identifying them is somewhat easy to do. What you’re looking for are patterns – causes and effects. When you’ve fed your addiction in the past, how were you feeling beforehand? What happened during the day?
You’ll find that there is one common denominator that triggers you. Once you understand what it is, you can start to develop a new pattern of behavior that replaces your old one. Instead of smoking after someone has just spoken to you disrespectfully, perhaps you could find another way of calming down, such as counting to ten.
Picture The Future
If you’re lacking the motivation needed to try to overcome addiction, picture two futures. Picture how desperate and grim your future would look like if you were unable to beat your addiction, and picture how bright and happy it would look if you could beat it.
See Your Friends
Addiction is much harder to beat when you’re doing it alone, and this is the reason there are support groups that help people beat their addictions together.
We all need someone to lean on during times of crisis. We all need someone to talk to, and who can tell us that “things will get better.”
It always helps when an old friend, a familiar face is by our side. So don’t try to do this alone. See your friends. Re-connect with them. Talk to them about what you’re going through, and how you really need to be around someone right now.
Get A Pet
If you live alone, getting a pet is a great way to help you beat addiction. Anthony Kiedis, the frontman of the Red Hot Chili Peppers once said that whenever he feels like returning to drugs, he takes one look at his dog Buster and remembers that Buster has never seen him high. And he doesn’t want to let him down.
Watch Inspiring Videos
Beating an addiction is hard, and it can sometimes feel as though you’re battling against the odds. It helps to watch inspiring videos of people who themselves have overcome tremendous odds to get to where they are now.
There are countless stories of people in desperate situations who have clawed their way out and emerged stronger, fitter, healthier, and ready to start anew. By watching videos of their stories, you could start to get inspired and believe that you can overcome your own demons, too.
Take A Break
It can be hard to beat addiction when we’re stuck in a place crowded with constant reminders of it. For this reason, and if you have the money to do it, it’s a good idea to take a small vacation.
Head somewhere far away. Go someplace different. Give your mind and body a chance to see new sights and experience new things, feelings, and sensations. It will help you to take your mind off things, while also allowing you to refresh and see life from a different perspective. What we crave are not things that we need.
Start A New Project
Boredom can see our return to our addiction. As such, it’s a swell idea to start a brand new project so that you have something to keep you occupied each day. And the more serious you start to get on your project, the more reason you have not to return to your habit.
Stay happy!