One of the key things I took from the article is the heading called “hang with inspirational people”. It really hit home for me. If you want to improve yourself, you need to improve your environment and your social circles. This can be hard, especially if you’re stuck in the wrong ones, but it is totally worth it. Finding that community may be hard and it is one of the reasons I started Talking Sober. I want everyone to share their positive and inspirational personalities with everyone else.
Being that I’ve been an addict for half my adult life and I’ve been through the detox and recovery process more times than i can count, i think I’m going to post my own 5 tools to stay sober on here. These things really helped me in a significant way, and i encourage people to try them.
Music: Listening to music helped me in such a profound manner. Music has been proven to be an effective method for mood therapy, and listening to at least 30 minutes of music a day really uplifted my spirits, comforted me, and gave me something else to think about besides the pain of withdrawal. At the bottom of this list, I’ve included some links to songs that really consoled me the first time I ever went through withdrawals.
Attending Meetings: I’ll be straight up with you, i did NOT like going to meetings… At first. I’m an anti-social person with severe trust issues. At first I was attending group sessions at Community Bridges (anyone from Phoenix, AZ will recognize that organization), and then I started attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings on my own when I realized that you don’t even have to talk or contribute all that much to gain the the benefits of going to meetings. Being around people that were going through the same emotional and physical pain was a great comfort to me, it made me feel less alone. And hearing the stories of others who had been sober for months or years greatly encouraged me when I felt that i just couldn’t do it anymore. As an atheist, I was freaked out about the “find your higher power” rhetoric, but it isn’t really a necessary component.
Cutting Off Contact: This part may suck a little bit, but I’ve found that it is absolutely necessary. You have to not only break off all contact with anyone who does drugs/drinks, but you need to prevent yourself from ever contacting them again. I thought i could trust myself to just keep one friend from my drug days, but even that was too much. My boyfriend and my friend Amanda are both addicts, and although i deleted everyone else just by keeping those two people in my life I was relapsing about once a month. You may be thinking that this is too harsh, or maybe you think you’re strong enough to resist temptation. What i say to that is, Don’t you want to give yourself the best chance possible for recovery? I was deeply in love with my boyfriend at the time, and because of that I relapsed every time I was around him. My friend started prostituting herself, but I knew if I tried to help her or my boyfriend, the temptation to get high would be irresistible. So don’t just delete their numbers, FB, Twitter, and Instagram profiles… Block them from contacting you. Change your number. You can’t help them until you help yourself.
Identify Your Triggers: Make a list of all the things that trigger you into wanting to use. This may take some serious thought. For me, it was being around other addicts, certain smells, particular movies that I watched while high, high stress situations that caused me anxiety, and even certain areas of the city in which I live. Once you’ve identified your triggers, make another list… Courses of action that you can take to avoid those things and situations. Sometimes avoiding certain things may be impossible. If this is the case, try to figure out a way to cope with it or minimize your exposure to that thing as much possible.
Medication: This one isn’t for everyone, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it, because without it I would still be a junkie. I have an underlying physical condition that existed prior to me becoming an addict, and it is extremely painful. There are currently very few medications available to treat it. When I was using heroin, I didn’t feel the pain anymore… But when I stopped, the pain was so intense that it got to the point where I truly wanted to stop using, but because of the pain I HAD to keep shooting up. If you are in a special situation like this, where for one reason or another you can’t stop due to physical pain, I highly recommend finding either a Suboxone program or a doctor who can prescribe Suboxone. It literally saved my life and enabled me to stop using. Now, finding a doctor who can prescribe it is difficult, because you need a special license to prescribe it, but there is information available on ways to obtain it legally. If you want more information just ask, I’ll be happy to help.
That’s all I’ve got at the moment. Here are some links to some music that helped me get through the hardest points;
https://youtu.be/uHAf39N0VdA - This last one in particular really got me through some rough nights. All of these songs are on my playlist, feel free to scroll through it if you like my eclectic taste.
Really, really meaningful share. Thanks so much, it is really a wonderful asset for the community.
Oh and thumbs up for the Nirvana song. I have a framed poster of Kurt in my bedroom
