Strategies for a Recovering Drug Addict
Here are some tips for recovering addicts to engage the creative life in recovery.
What is creation?
Creative recovery is the solution to the problem of “What can I do with myself now that I don’t do drugs and alcohol anymore?”
However, before the recovering drug addict can start creating this new life for themselves, they will need to conquer the first part of recovery. This indicates that they have to find some initial time to be clean and sober before the person can make an effort at creating a new life for themselves.
Making it past this initial part of recovery can be done in a variety of ways. The most effective strategy for accumulating some initial clean time is to use overwhelming force. This means that the recovering drug addict must go above and beyond what they think is necessary in order for them to stay clean. If they are using meetings, they should go way overboard with attending them and start going to two or three each and every day instead of just one a day. If the person is considering rehab, they might think about attending a halfway house or a long term facility instead of the usual short stay. This is overwhelming force, and it works extremely well for getting people through the first stage of recovery. Without using this type of extreme approach, addicts are highly susceptible to relapse and most will never make it past 30 days clean. Using overwhelming force is the best way to increase these odds.
After an addict has established a few months of clean time, they are ready to transition into the creative life of recovery. This strategy is all about making a new life with new things to work towards in it that can replace the drive that the person used to feel for doing drugs and alcohol. Creation is the method by which someone starts filling their life back up with purpose after the chemicals are removed. It is not a workable solution to simply quit the drugs and alcohol and then try to resume a normal life of some sort. For most addicts, there is no “normal,” and a new life must be created in its place. This is the power of creation and it is necessary for long term sobriety.
