How to Overcome Your Addictions and Transform Them into Something Positive

by Allen Brown
November 24, 2020
in Health
1
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Addictions mostly start with boredom or peer pressure, if all your friends are doing it, you may feel the need to follow their lead. You may engage in addictive behaviors such as overeating, sexual activity, shopping, drugs, or gambling. Many people think that addiction is a myth and that nothing can have that kind of control over them. Some may even feel that they can quit at any time because their will is strong enough. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and most probably, everyone ends up getting stuck in the addiction loop. With that being said, here are some tips on how you can overcome your addictions and replace them with healthy habits so you can stop spiraling and get a hang of yourself again.

Awareness and Deciding to Change

The first step towards changing anything in your life is becoming aware that you have a problem. You cannot fix an issue without admitting that you are suffering in the first place. That’s why you should stop being stubborn and confess if even to yourself, that you need to take a stand.

Once you decide to change, you can start setting small goals for yourself, so you won’t give up easily. It is a good thing to be ambitious, but you should also know yourself well and your capabilities before putting a plan together. For instance, some people get over an addiction by reducing the time or amount of money spent on it little by little. While others need to cut off completely because, with them, it is an all or none.

Some addictions are impossible to cut off entirely, such as eating, sex, or shopping. Meaning that you will have to find a way to balance them because removing one of them from your life can lead to much greater consequences. For example, if you stop eating, you will be at risk of developing an eating disorder. If sex is out of the question, you will find it hard to become intimate with your partner, and so on.

Preparation Stage

You have to go through the preparation stage to become ready physically and mentally. Prepping also includes getting rid of the addictive substance from your home and staying away from friends who use it as well. That way, you will become in a good position to start your treatment journey.

Getting Treatment

It is fine to ask for professional help when you need it and ask a therapist to guide you through your quitting process. Some physicians at iRecover.ca recommend going to a rehabilitation facility to stay away from all the triggers that may force you to go back to the addiction. You may stay there until you pass the first phase, which is the hardest one for any individual trying to recover because of the withdrawal symptoms.

Different treatment approaches are being used to suit a variety of patients. They may include psychological ones such as cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) that involve analyzing thoughts and feelings. After the analysis and getting to the root of the problem, the best course of action will be decided by your doctor. Another approach is mindfulness which is used if there is an underlying mental illness such as anxiety or depression.

Developing Healthy Habits

Replacing an old pattern with a new one is not easy because these patterns take days to become a habit or an addiction. That’s why you should first find something positive that you like and start replacing the unhealthy habit with it. However, in the situation, your natural reaction will be going for your old addiction. That’s why you should make an effort to convince yourself that the new action is better and that you should go for it. You can go walking, exercise, or chew gum when you are under stress or trying to fill out the boredom.

Avoiding Relapse

The worst part after recovering from an addiction is relapsing because no one wants to see their efforts going to waste. However, you should know that relapse is a part of the recovery process and that it is okay to fail before quitting forever. To steer clear from it, you need to remind yourself that you are still not in full control, so it is better to stay away from the addictive substance. This is just until you become fully aware of your thoughts and craving and able to keep them at bay.

You should know that being an addict is not far away from you and that addictions are real. You shouldn’t let anyone influence you or let you engage in an addictive behavior because everyone loses control in the end. Remember that your life can go back on track if you acknowledge your problem and start treating it as it should be.

Tags: Addiction, addictions, Avoiding Relapse, cognitive behavior therapy, ddictions, Healthy Habits, iRecover, iRecover.ca, LA Guestlist, Los Angeles, Treatment

1 Discussion on “How to Overcome Your Addictions and Transform Them into Something Positive”

Eva Williams says:

November 25, 2020 at 12:12 pm

I have to agree with this article. We are all human and we all have a chance for a mistake, the main thing is to understand that you did something wrong. I saw with my own eyes people who were addicted to drugs. And I saw how difficult it was for them not to break off after the first week, the first month and even a year. They are heroes, really! It’s cool that the article says that it is important to seek help from specialists, because you cannot always help yourself in these situations. It is very scary to be addicted to something, but I know that if a person found the problem, then the solution is already close. Thank you for this article!

How to Overcome Your Addictions and Transform Them into Something Positive

Allen Brown

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How to Overcome Your Addictions and Transform Them into Something Positive

Allen Brown

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