Personal Growth Success

Beating addiction doesn’t happen overnight, it is a process that unfolds over time. Any recovering alcoholic or addict will tell you that overcoming addiction is a process that unfolds before you for the rest of your life. But what does a process such as this really consist of, and how do we go about following it in a positive manner?

Before you can even try to beat addiction or alcoholism, you must surrender and thus overcome your denial. What does this really point to?

It means you have to stop fighting with yourself in terms of trying to control your use. You have to discard the illusion that you could some day drink alcohol like normal folks do without going off the deep end. If you happen to be entertaining the fantasy that one day you might drink like a normal person then you are headed for trouble.

Surrender is a process. It just happens; I’m not sure that you can really initiate it if you are truly not ready to give up. Most people would say you have to “hit bottom” first. If you are still having fun with drinking and drugging, then chances are not good that you can surrender to the disease. It is only after addiction has caused you a lot of misery that surrender becomes possible. It is only after the fun times are long gone that a person might consider the idea of recovery.

Because addiction and alcoholism attack a person mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, the recovery program should address each of these elements as well. That is what makes the holistic method of healing so effective in recovery. So frequently in recovery I have watched struggling alcoholics focus too strongly on one area of recovery while not paying any attention to the others. This always leads to relapse. Beating an addiction requires a more thorough approach.

A holistic approach addresses these problems. You stop dumping booze and chemicals into your body and your overall health starts to improve because of this. At the same time a successful recovery program will push you to grow spiritually. You will make growth and progress both emotionally, socially, and spiritually as you make new connections in sobriety.