The Big Secret of Overcoming Addiction

There is a big secret to overcoming addiction that is counter-intuitive and thus remains elusive for most people. The secret is that beating addiction involves creation, not elimination. What does this mean?

Most people think of recovery as an act of elimination. We need to purge the drugs and the alcohol and all of the toxic relationships and bad environments that came along with our drug use, right?

Well this is part of the process, of course, but real recovery goes much further than an elimination strategy.

Why do we need to create? You need creation in recovery because if you simply eliminate the drugs and the alcohol then you will be left with a shell of a life. With no purpose or passion in your life you will inevitably return to drinking and drugging. The way to overcome this is through creation.

What is creation? It is purposeful, conscious living with an emphasis on holistic growth. The idea is that you're going to create a new life for yourself in recovery. This is necessary because you are not just replacing the drugs and the alcohol, you are in fact replacing an entire lifestyle that came along with using and drinking every day.

For some people, they can replace this lifestyle with a new lifestyle of 12 step meetings and the fellowship that comes along with those meetings. But others will seek a different path and that is what creation is all about. You don't have to accept 12 step meetings as your only solution for recovery. Meetings represent a very valid path and some will in fact take that route and do well with it but many fail to find sobriety in the fellowship and that is where the creative theory comes in.

The secret of recovery is creation. Even those who are working a 12 step program are actively creating a new life for themselves, they are just doing it within the framework of the 12 step program. The actual framework is irrelevant though. What's important is the creation.

So how can we create this new life for ourselves? I would suggest 3 basic strategies as a starting point for newcomers:

1) Push for personal growth

2) Caring for self

3) Networking with others

These are the 3 pillar strategies to focus on. Push yourself to grow holistically. That means that you try to grow in every area of your life, from the physical to your emotional balance to your spiritual growth.

Caring for self means just that: take care of yourself and putting a high level of importance on your health.

Networking with others is especially important in early recovery. Reach out and connect with other recovering addicts in order to strengthen your own recovery.

The big secret is in creating a new life with purpose. Ask any person who has many years sober if they basically had to create a new life for themselves in recovery and they will tell you that yes, they did in fact do exactly that. It's more than just giving up the drugs and alcohol. We have to create.