Recovery for EveryoneSample

Tips for Early Recovery

Recovering from addiction will be one of the hardest undertakings in an addict's life. In the midst of their addiction, the typical addict has clocked in hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of hours of repetitive, addictive conditioning. Many addicts rely heavily upon their addictive acting out as a primary coping mechanism before beginning the journey of recovery. 

1. Daily time for recovery

Recovery is hard work, and more importantly, it is consistent work. Remember, it took consistent behaviors to spiral you into your addiction. It only makes sense that consistent work is going to be a big part of your recovery and reconditioning yourself into a life of recovery from addiction. 

In light of this, you are going to need time do your 5 commandments. You may need to have a daily calendar and try to come up with at least 15 to 30 minutes a day to work on your recovery from addiction. This effort will make a big difference on the length of time it will take you to experience recovery. This, of course, is not the total amount of time you will need to work your recovery, as we will discuss later about attending support groups. Scheduling these support group meetings on your calendar will also be a very important part of your recovery from addiction! 

2. Cleaning house

The information in this exercise may be obvious to many Christian addicts, but for the benefit of those who have never read anything about achieving recovery from addiction, this exercise must be discussed. "Cleaning house" at the beginning of your recovery will steer you from keeping that “one” thing from your addiction that could possibly cause you to relapse down the road. Many addicts I have counseled with had their first relapse with the one thing they didn’t throw away. 

You also will want to guard against any technology that you used during your addiction. Many addicts have relapsed through relationships or social networking sites. 

Genesis 35:2 New International Version (NIV) says: “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you and purify yourselves and change your clothes.’”

3. Maximized thinking

The maximized thinking technique is easy to understand. Simply ask yourself daily, especially during the first year of recovery, “Is this the most I can put into my recovery today?” If the answer is more “yes” than “no,” you will find yourself progressing through recovery quite well. Maximized thinking plays a big part in early recovery. 

Other options are shades of minimized thinking, asking yourself, "How little can I do?" in order to show others you are trying to recover. This type of minimized thinking is done mostly on a less-than-conscious level and can be measured by a lack of recovery behaviors. 

One way I determine the addict’s level of seriousness in early recovery is by their recovery behaviors. 

Your life can be 10 to 100 times better than any day living actively in an addicted lifestyle. Trust me when I say you are worth your recovery. Nobody deserves their recovery from addiction without effort, and nobody I know receives it that way either. So, maximize the early part of your recovery, and you will have the rest of your life to thank yourself for the time you invested in the beginning of your recovery journey.

Remember, you have not resisted sin unto death as Christ has for us. Think, “What is the best I can do to become and stay free for Him, since He has given His best for me?” 

My encouragement to you is to take recovery seriously. Continue to fight your addiction by learning more about recovery in the Recovery for Everyone book. Each person has to work their own program of recovery in order to have the kind of happy and fulfilling life we are all capable of experiencing!