How I got sober (off meth)

[YCGP]

Before I tell you the story I will tell you the strategy so you can skip the boring details if you wish:

Tie MASSIVE PAIN to the other behavior (drug abuse) and even MORE PLEASURE to the new behavior (sobriety).

Here's why:

Our primary drivers as humans are the need to avoid pain and the desire to attain pleasure. We will always do more to avoid pain than we will to attain pleasure. That is why tying massive pain to using and more pleasure to being sober will change your behavior. It creates a shift in your brain that makes you brain go, "look at all the pain! I don't want to do this anymore. Oh, and look at all this pleasure. I want to be sober!" So write down what it will mean for your in 5, 10, 15 20, 25 years if you keep using? Go into detail and be EMOTIONAL. Then, what will it mean for me in 5,10,15,20,25 years if I get sober? Do this in detail using emotion. This will create a powerful shift in your brain that will help you immensely.

Now, what happened with me?
I was in rehab and saw a young man who had overdosed on fentynyl. He thought he was smoking meth (which is what I was smoking) so he took a huge inhale. He got brain damage from the overdose. I took one look at him and thought that I would never be able to be with the woman of my dreams if I were like him. She would never be with a man who had brain damage. Then all my other dreams came rushing to me. That was it. The shift was created and the behavior was changed and I was sober.

It has been over a year now and I am feeling so blessed! I know in my heart and in my gut I will never go back.

Peace+

 

[Not David]

Before I tell you the story I will tell you the strategy so you can skip the boring details if you wish:

Tie MASSIVE PAIN to the other behavior (drug abuse) and even MORE PLEASURE to the new behavior (sobriety).

Here's why:

Our primary drivers as humans are the need to avoid pain and the desire to attain pleasure. We will always do more to avoid pain than we will to attain pleasure. That is why tying massive pain to using and more pleasure to being sober will change your behavior. It creates a shift in your brain that makes you brain go, "look at all the pain! I don't want to do this anymore. Oh, and look at all this pleasure. I want to be sober!" So write down what it will mean for your in 5, 10, 15 20, 25 years if you keep using? Go into detail and be EMOTIONAL. Then, what will it mean for me in 5,10,15,20,25 years if I get sober? Do this in detail using emotion. This will create a powerful shift in your brain that will help you immensely.

Now, what happened with me?
I was in rehab and saw a young man who had overdosed on fentynyl. He thought he was smoking meth (which is what I was smoking) so he took a huge inhale. He got brain damage from the overdose. I took one look at him and thought that I would never be able to be with the woman of my dreams if I were like him. She would never be with a man who had brain damage. Then all my other dreams came rushing to me. That was it. The shift was created and the behavior was changed and I was sober.

It has been over a year now and I am feeling so blessed! I know in my heart and in my gut I will never go back.

Peace+

Praise God you have not fallen. Nevertheless, we need to be cautious since the devil wants to drop us.

Lord have mercy!

 

[YCGP]

Yes, GLORY TO GOD +++

 

[anna ~ grace]

Stay close to Christ, YCGP. Stay close to your Orthodox Christian faith for help, healing, strength, and graces. God bless you, friend.

 

[Petros2015]

It has been over a year now and I am feeling so blessed! I know in my heart and in my gut I will never go back.

Wonderful YCGP - I am glad to hear that.

My suggestion would be to still work with and visit 12 step recovery groups. I am six years sober from alcohol and two from inappropriate contentography. In addition to personal revelations about the damage they had done in my life and would continue to do (which one will get from working the 12 steps), the recovery groups provide many advantages that are important for long term sobriety

1) encouragement in spiritual growth
2) the opportunity to help others - my pain and tragedy are now my resume'
3) I am reminded of where I was and the damage that can be done by compromise from hearing the stories of others

When I came into AA there was a woman with 2 1/2 years. A few months in, she slipped and compromised. She was laughing about it, it was just a thing she had done that weekend, and she would pick up a chip on Monday. No biggie, no harm done.

The next time I saw her, she was destroyed. I watched her for the next 3 years struggle to get periods of a month or two of sobriety. I don't know if she ever made it back. But, in some sense, watching her did more to keep me sober than anything else.

At 4 years sober I met a man named Jim. He had lived on the streets going from rehab to rehab for the last 25 years and was in a halfway house, just back from another rehab. He asked me to be a sponsor and I agreed. He called me every day and was doing well, but then he would suddenly be gone. On the days he chose to drink, he never called to let me help talk him out of it. Jim had once had 6 years of sobriety and was a strong recovery member, had a house, 2 cars, wife, family. But he stopped going to meetings, his mind convinced him 'it would be OK'. It wasn't. I fished him out of hotel rooms and into hospitals a couple of time.

The last day we met, he was leaving a rehab by taxi coming into town and called me. I ran downtown to meet him, but he had already had the taxi driver take him to a liquor store. He was already drunk. We talked for a few hours, and I watched him slip away. He said he planned to take the train to Baltimore, maybe there would be another recovery home he could get into. We said our goodbyes, that was the last time I heard or saw from Jim. He called that night to say that he was too drunk and they wouldn't let him on the train, it was cold and could he come to my house.

Sorry Jim, can't help you.

There's no difference between me and Jim. Jim's life can be mine. The recovery meetings and interacting with people in recovery solidify this for me and keep it first and foremost in my mind. If they are successful, we are supportive colleagues. If they compromise and start to fall, we all try to help. If they don't make it back, we see what awaits us, and take it to heart. Some of the people who have kept me sober the most were the ones that failed. But even in failing they showed me what awaited if I compromised.

And addition is an interesting disease. Sometimes I call AA "Alzheimer's Anonymous" because alcoholics and addicts seem to 'forget' they can't use without disaster or suddenly forget the reasons they don't use when they are having a bad day or a bad week, even if life has clearly shown them otherwise. I'm vulnerable to this too, but being involved in recovery keeps it fresh in my mind. I get to about 3 meetings a week, have a sponsor, have a sponsee who just gave me his 5th Step. Told me the story of his life. Keeps him sober, and keeps me sober.

Great book by the way, for anyone, working any problem they need recovery from:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BOE0IXU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

 

[YCGP]

Wonderful YCGP - I am glad to hear that.

My suggestion would be to still work with and visit 12 step recovery groups. I am six years sober from alcohol and two from inappropriate contentography. In addition to personal revelations about the damage they had done in my life and would continue to do (which one will get from working the 12 steps), the recovery groups provide many advantages that are important for long term sobriety

1) encouragement in spiritual growth
2) the opportunity to help others - my pain and tragedy are now my resume'
3) I am reminded of where I was and the damage that can be done by compromise from hearing the stories of others

When I came into AA there was a woman with 2 1/2 years. A few months in, she slipped and compromised. She was laughing about it, it was just a thing she had done that weekend, and she would pick up a chip on Monday. No biggie, no harm done.

The next time I saw her, she was destroyed. I watched her for the next 3 years struggle to get periods of a month or two of sobriety. I don't know if she ever made it back. But, in some sense, watching her did more to keep me sober than anything else.

At 4 years sober I met a man named Jim. He had lived on the streets going from rehab to rehab for the last 25 years and was in a halfway house, just back from another rehab. He asked me to be a sponsor and I agreed. He called me every day and was doing well, but then he would suddenly be gone. On the days he chose to drink, he never called to let me help talk him out of it. Jim had once had 6 years of sobriety and was a strong recovery member, had a house, 2 cars, wife, family. But he stopped going to meetings, his mind convinced him 'it would be OK'. It wasn't. I fished him out of hotel rooms and into hospitals a couple of time.

The last day we met, he was leaving a rehab by taxi coming into town and called me. I ran downtown to meet him, but he had already had the taxi driver take him to a liquor store. He was already drunk. We talked for a few hours, and I watched him slip away. He said he planned to take the train to Baltimore, maybe there would be another recovery home he could get into. We said our goodbyes, that was the last time I heard or saw from Jim. He called that night to say that he was too drunk and they wouldn't let him on the train, it was cold and could he come to my house.

Sorry Jim, can't help you.

There's no difference between me and Jim. Jim's life can be mine. The recovery meetings and interacting with people in recovery solidify this for me and keep it first and foremost in my mind. If they are successful, we are supportive colleagues. If they compromise and start to fall, we all try to help. If they don't make it back, we see what awaits us, and take it to heart. Some of the people who have kept me sober the most were the ones that failed. But even in failing they showed me what awaited if I compromised.

And addition is an interesting disease. Sometimes I call AA "Alzheimer's Anonymous" because alcoholics and addicts seem to 'forget' they can't use without disaster or suddenly forget the reasons they don't use when they are having a bad day or a bad week, even if life has clearly shown them otherwise. I'm vulnerable to this too, but being involved in recovery keeps it fresh in my mind. I get to about 3 meetings a week, have a sponsor, have a sponsee who just gave me his 5th Step. Told me the story of his life. Keeps him sober, and keeps me sober.

Great book by the way, for anyone, working any problem they need recovery from:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BOE0IXU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Hi Petros:

Thank you for your post. I appreciate your wisdom and efforts to aid me.

At the same time I must say that I do not believe in AA. I believe it is paramount to have a compelling future and that is almost never discussed in meetings.

Also, I believe it is harmful to ingrain into one's identity that he or she is an 'addict'. The power of the identity is incredibly strong. One of the biggest forces within us is our need to stay consistent with who we think we are. We will either stay consistent with an addict or an addict in recovery, but I don't want either of those realities for myself. I identify as God's child. God has relieved my affliction and I know I will never go back.

No AA for me, just prayer and making the most of the present moment so I can do God's will.

Peace+

 

[Petros2015]

Whatever works for you YCGP, may it keep working and may you share it with others.

 

[carp614]

Congratulations YCGP. I'm grateful to the Lord for your sobriety.

Let that feeling of success feed your storehouse. I pray you will have stored up the strength you need to maintain your sobriety through whatever comes your way.

 

[coronawatching]

Wonderful YCGP - I am glad to hear that.

My suggestion would be to still work with and visit 12 step recovery groups. I am six years sober from alcohol and two from inappropriate contentography. In addition to personal revelations about the damage they had done in my life and would continue to do (which one will get from working the 12 steps), the recovery groups provide many advantages that are important for long term sobriety

1) encouragement in spiritual growth
2) the opportunity to help others - my pain and tragedy are now my resume'
3) I am reminded of where I was and the damage that can be done by compromise from hearing the stories of others

When I came into AA there was a woman with 2 1/2 years. A few months in, she slipped and compromised. She was laughing about it, it was just a thing she had done that weekend, and she would pick up a chip on Monday. No biggie, no harm done.

The next time I saw her, she was destroyed. I watched her for the next 3 years struggle to get periods of a month or two of sobriety. I don't know if she ever made it back. But, in some sense, watching her did more to keep me sober than anything else.

At 4 years sober I met a man named Jim. He had lived on the streets going from rehab to rehab for the last 25 years and was in a halfway house, just back from another rehab. He asked me to be a sponsor and I agreed. He called me every day and was doing well, but then he would suddenly be gone. On the days he chose to drink, he never called to let me help talk him out of it. Jim had once had 6 years of sobriety and was a strong recovery member, had a house, 2 cars, wife, family. But he stopped going to meetings, his mind convinced him 'it would be OK'. It wasn't. I fished him out of hotel rooms and into hospitals a couple of time.

The last day we met, he was leaving a rehab by taxi coming into town and called me. I ran downtown to meet him, but he had already had the taxi driver take him to a liquor store. He was already drunk. We talked for a few hours, and I watched him slip away. He said he planned to take the train to Baltimore, maybe there would be another recovery home he could get into. We said our goodbyes, that was the last time I heard or saw from Jim. He called that night to say that he was too drunk and they wouldn't let him on the train, it was cold and could he come to my house.

Sorry Jim, can't help you.

There's no difference between me and Jim. Jim's life can be mine. The recovery meetings and interacting with people in recovery solidify this for me and keep it first and foremost in my mind. If they are successful, we are supportive colleagues. If they compromise and start to fall, we all try to help. If they don't make it back, we see what awaits us, and take it to heart. Some of the people who have kept me sober the most were the ones that failed. But even in failing they showed me what awaited if I compromised.

And addition is an interesting disease. Sometimes I call AA "Alzheimer's Anonymous" because alcoholics and addicts seem to 'forget' they can't use without disaster or suddenly forget the reasons they don't use when they are having a bad day or a bad week, even if life has clearly shown them otherwise. I'm vulnerable to this too, but being involved in recovery keeps it fresh in my mind. I get to about 3 meetings a week, have a sponsor, have a sponsee who just gave me his 5th Step. Told me the story of his life. Keeps him sober, and keeps me sober.

Great book by the way, for anyone, working any problem they need recovery from:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BOE0IXU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

 

[coronawatching]

I have been clean 5 years 3 months this time. Its important to respect the disease. Getting a big head is definitely dangerous in recovery.

 

[Petros2015]

Yeah, it's interesting to read this now again almost 7 months later; I'm in lockdown along with most of the rest of the country with my fiance in the house we bought in late October. Got complacent on a lot of my recovery groups, had a brief inappropriate content relapse in late Jan that lasted about 30 minutes on a week where I had almost no sleep due to overwork and was ticked off and said 'f* it', this won't hurt anybody. Well, that 30 minutes caused about 30 hours of problems between her and me. Definitely been struggling with drinking during this period and the same thing could happen there. Got so busy with the house move in and relationship issues (some good, some bad), and then prepping for the oncoming Covid storm (saw it coming in early Feb) that recovery took a back seat. Still have contacts with AA, but all meetings are now Zoom meetings, and I have not been to one in about 2 weeks. So I am definitely in a dangerous spot, no service position, no consistent meetings/home groups. One 'F* it' away from a drink. There's been good stuff and growth too, I still practice gratitude and prayer, but I can't say I'm working a strong program now, I'm just sober.

 

[Petros2015]

This helps - it's a favorite and I listened to it yesterday; reminds me of where I go and what happens to me (and what happened to me) when I went out. Great audio reading of 'the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'. I've listened to it many times, and it is truly excellent. 'Why don't you drink Peter?' Heh. 'Well, have you ever read this book...? It's truer than you might think'

LibriVox

 

[coronawatching]

Yeah, it's interesting to read this now again almost 7 months later; I'm in lockdown along with most of the rest of the country with my fiance in the house we bought in late October. Got complacent on a lot of my recovery groups, had a brief inappropriate content relapse in late Jan that lasted about 30 minutes on a week where I had almost no sleep due to overwork and was ticked off and said 'f* it', this won't hurt anybody. Well, that 30 minutes caused about 30 hours of problems between her and me. Definitely been struggling with drinking during this period and the same thing could happen there. Got so busy with the house move in and relationship issues (some good, some bad), and then prepping for the oncoming Covid storm (saw it coming in early Feb) that recovery took a back seat. Still have contacts with AA, but all meetings are now Zoom meetings, and I have not been to one in about 2 weeks. So I am definitely in a dangerous spot, no service position, no consistent meetings/home groups. One 'F* it' away from a drink. There's been good stuff and growth too, I still practice gratitude and prayer, but I can't say I'm working a strong program now, I'm just sober.

 

[coronawatching]

Hey Petros. I couldnt figure out from your post whether you were actively drinking or not. Some believe that a sin is just a sin; I don't. (John 19:11) For me, no sin is worse than picking up a drink or a drug. When I do that, every sin in the book comes after that. So as long as I don't pick up, I have a chance to work on everything else. Its important for me to work on other things though.

 

[Petros2015]

Hey Petros. I couldnt figure out from your post whether you were actively drinking or not. Some believe that a sin is just a sin; I don't. (John 19:11) For me, no sin is worse than picking up a drink or a drug. When I do that, every sin in the book comes after that. So as long as I don't pick up, I have a chance to work on everything else. Its important for me to work on other things though.

Agreed - no I'm not drinking again; be 7 years 6/6/2021 if I keep to it.
June 6th turned out to be D-Day when I looked into it.
I kinda like that for my sobriety date.

 

[coronawatching]

Nice..Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. Hope you get into the solution to feel better. I have to do certain things everyday. I am on auto pilot with my routine. I have some blah days, but at least I am clean so that I can experience the great days when they happen.

 

[Jaxxi]

Before I tell you the story I will tell you the strategy so you can skip the boring details if you wish:

Tie MASSIVE PAIN to the other behavior (drug abuse) and even MORE PLEASURE to the new behavior (sobriety).

Here's why:

Our primary drivers as humans are the need to avoid pain and the desire to attain pleasure. We will always do more to avoid pain than we will to attain pleasure. That is why tying massive pain to using and more pleasure to being sober will change your behavior. It creates a shift in your brain that makes you brain go, "look at all the pain! I don't want to do this anymore. Oh, and look at all this pleasure. I want to be sober!" So write down what it will mean for your in 5, 10, 15 20, 25 years if you keep using? Go into detail and be EMOTIONAL. Then, what will it mean for me in 5,10,15,20,25 years if I get sober? Do this in detail using emotion. This will create a powerful shift in your brain that will help you immensely.

Now, what happened with me?
I was in rehab and saw a young man who had overdosed on fentynyl. He thought he was smoking meth (which is what I was smoking) so he took a huge inhale. He got brain damage from the overdose. I took one look at him and thought that I would never be able to be with the woman of my dreams if I were like him. She would never be with a man who had brain damage. Then all my other dreams came rushing to me. That was it. The shift was created and the behavior was changed and I was sober.

It has been over a year now and I am feeling so blessed! I know in my heart and in my gut I will never go back.

Peace+

How did you get past the withdrawals? I cannot afford rehab and it is always available where I live. I think it kind of helps that its available if I want it, it not that I am OUT of it . THAT is what drives me insane. Should I wean off? What do you recommend? ( My environment is one where we hide that we do it and it is very concealed, controlled and subtle) Im not justifying anything, just saying I do not live like a druggie so those around me really cannot know that I am in recovery.

 

[Jaxxi]

I was in a rehab facility and didn't really have withdrawals. I had withdrawals off suboxone the other month and it was HELL. I couldn't sleep and my body ached and I kept physically freaking out like I had to move. I went to the hospital and the only thing that helped was an injection to put me to sleep. I spent the next few days suffering. I'm back on the suboxone now and everything is fine.

Just trying to quit smoking cigarettes.

I'm looking to Christ now and using some NLP to make the change, finding it hard to trust God in this place.

But one thing I gotta get across to you is I'm prescribed Concerta and with Concerta I don't feel like I need anything else... I just enjoy my time and do my walking and dreaming and be productive. I'm a new results coach for people who want to go from Pastime to Passion, basically Zero to Hero and I'm doing pretty well with that. Just need to get the smoking done once and for all.

Try to get a prescription for Concerta, I doubt you will need anything else.

Ok thank you. Have you worked with anyone who has panic disorder? My son has it bad and it is affecting him horribly. To the point where he introverts beyond communication and throws up

 

[YCGP]

Ok thank you. Have you worked with anyone who has panic disorder? My son has it bad and it is affecting him horribly. To the point where he introverts beyond communication and throws up

I have not. I really wish I could help you but it's beyond my ability at this point.

You could always reach out to Tony Robbins' people. They take cases to this day, I'm sure.