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Before relapsing or using meth again, consider this...
| Loraura |
Consider the following before using meth
I've adapted the following text from an OA
pamphlet, and replaced references to food and eating
compulsively to drugs and using. I find it very helpful
when I'm feeling overwhelmed with thoughts of relapsing
maybe it will be helpful to someone else, too.
"If you are confronted with the urge to use, consider
the following points BEFORE you take that first hit:
1.Cultivate continued acceptance of the fact that your
choice is between unhappy using and doing without just
one small hit.
2. Cultivate humble gratitude that you were fortunate
enough to find out what was wrong with you before it was
too late.
3. Accept as natural that for a period of time (and it
can be a long one) you may recurringly experience:
a. The conscious nagging and craving to use.
b. The sudden overwhelming impulse just to take one
bump.
c. The craving, not for drugs as such, but for the
soothing glow and comfort just a hit or two once gave
you.
As disturbing as these feelings are, they do not have to
be acted upon.
4. Remember, each time you face a situation without
using will make it easier for you the next time.
5. Develop and rehearse a daily plan of thinking and
acting by which you will live that day without using,
regardless of what may upset you or how hard the old
urge to use may hit you.
6. Don't for a split second allow yourself to think
"Isn't is a pity or a mean injustice that I can't use
like so-called normal people?"
7. Don't allow yourself to either think or talk about
any real or imagined pleasure you once got from using.
8. Don't permit yourself to think a bump or two would
make some bad situation better or, at least, easier to
live with. Substitute the thought, "One hit will make it worse --
one bump may eventually mean a binge."
9. Minimize your situation. Consider the courage of
others who have overcome or accepted great adversity in
their lives. Think gratefully how fortunate you are to
have a disease that can be arrested, one day at a time,
simply by not taking that first hit.
10.Cultivate enjoyment of sobriety:
a. How good is it to be free of guilt, remorse and
self-condemnation.
b. How good it is to be free of fear of the
consequences of a run just ended, or a coming run you
have never before been able to prevent.
c. How good it is to be free of the fear of what people
have been thinking and whispering about you, free of
their mingled pity and contempt.
d. How good it is to be free of fear of yourself.
11. Catalog and recatalog the positive enjoyment of
sobriety such as:
a. The simple ability to wake up glad you are alive,
glad you stayed sober yesterday, and glad you have the
privilege of being sober today.
b. The ability to face whatever life may dish out with
peace of mind, self-respect and the full possession of
all your faculties.
12. Cultivate a helpful association of ideas:
a. Associate that first hit with all the misery, shame
and remorse you have ever known.
b. Associate that first hit with the destruction of your
newfound happiness and the loss of your self-respect and
peace of mind.
13. Cultivate Gratitude:
a. Gratitude that so much can be yours for so small a
price.
b. Gratitude that you can trade just one hit for all the
happiness sobriety gives you.
c. Gratitude that you stopped using in time.
d. Gratitude that you are only a victim of an illness
called addiction, that you aren't a weak-willed glutton
or a person of doubtful reasoning power.
e. Gratitude that, as others before you have discovered,
in time you will not want or miss the drugs.
14. Seek out ways to help other addicts, and remember,
the first way to help others is to practice sobriety
yourself.
15. Don't forget that when the heart is heavy and
resistance is low, and the mind is troubled and
confused, there is much comfort in a true and
understanding friend standing by." |
danimal
55 |
Re: Consider the following before using meth
TY Loraura! Excellent advice, and a fine
example of preventing relapse by *not* "turning it over"
or "faking it", but instead by taking the bull by the
horns and using a cognitive "self talk" approach and
*REFUSE-ing TO USE*, or to even think about it.
Euphoric recall IS thee enemy and it must be combated in
the ways you have kindly set forth here.
The using thoughts and euphoric recall DO eventually
give up and leave us alone, I'm living proof with 30+
*CRAVING FREE* months behind me. TG
My Mother is quite emphatic about gratitude, service and
friendship as expressed in # 13, 14 & 15 in your list of
relapse prevention skills...and my Mother DOES know
best!
These 15 skills are IMO what the "cravers" truly need to
*apply* in order to, once and for all, silence that
monkey mind and it's incessant nagging for dope.
When using is no longer an option...for ANY "reason"
it's no longer an option. |
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See also:
Meth Relapse Topics
Can I smoke meth one more time or will I be back at day one of hell?
Back to Crystal Meth & Methamphetamine Questions, Answers & Advice
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