Successful recovery from addiction – whether substance abuse or compulsive behaviour – is built on a strong foundation of personal goals, dreams and commitment – not luck or willpower.  It takes self awareness, good decision making skills, plans, discipline and determination.  Over the next 11 days I will be posting 11 basic but powerful strategies for achieving addiction recovery, starting with Step 1 today.  Use these steps and strategies to help guide you to solid recovery. 

Step 1.  'Truth It' aka Being Honest With Yourself.  Face it, addictive behaviour is a problem in your life.  It has stripped away far more than it has ever given back.  Addiction hurts your health, your relationships, your finances, your sense of self worth, your peace of mind and possibly your legal status.  Admit the truth to yourself - addiction creates and never solves problems.  
 
Recovery Strategy 1:  Make a list of the personal costs of addiction, and the benefits you stand to gain by stopping this destructive behaviour.  Focus on identifying  the top benefits you want to achieve from recovery.  This will help keep you oriented towards the positive.  Make copies of your list and keep it in places where you can get quick access when needed.  For example, your bedside table, your mirror, your bag, etc. Identifying 'costs' and 'benefits' will give your recovery leverage, as you will have a concrete reminder of where you want to be - your goals, and where you don’t want to ever end up again - the toll.  This really helps on those days when you find yourself dealing with cravings or triggers, and struggling to hold onto your vision of a better life.  Instead of scrambling to try and remember what you want to achieve by avoiding addictive behaviour - at a time when it is difficult to think rationally - you will have a ready-made list of motivators to help guide your choices.

Stay Tuned Tomorrow For Step 2!