Dallas BraggFormer crystal methamphetamine user, I help men who have sex with men break free from the addictive patterns associated with Chemsex. Currently expanding my expertise by seeking to become a Certified

Grieving your addiction self #addictionrecovery

7 Sept 2024 · 1 min

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1:00

In this solo talk, Dallas Bragg emphasizes that individuals in recovery must mourn the version of themselves that existed during addiction, even if they dislike that identity. He explains that clinging to denial or self‑criticism is like "boxing a cloud"—a futile struggle that wastes energy. Bragg introduces a specific tool from his program designed to guide users through the grieving and acceptance process, noting that acceptance serves as the essential bridge from the addicted state to a healthier recovery mindset. He mentions using various engaging activities and reflective questions—such as asking how the addiction experience could be reframed as a learning opportunity—to help participants internalize acceptance and move forward.

Chapters

As much as you might hate who you were in addiction, you have to grieve that person because it's been part of your life for quite a while and you've gotten comfortable with them. That's why I have a tool in my program that helps you get through the grieving process, especially acceptance. You have to excuse my graphics, but this is the best I could come up with. But when you are in a place of not accepting what happened in your addiction, you are basically boxing a cloud. You are fighting what could have and should have happened. I should have done this, and I could have done this better. I shouldn't have done that. All of that is a waste of time. Once you can get to a place of acceptance, that is your bridge from where you are in addiction to where you wanna be in recovery. I have all sorts of fun activities to do to get this point across. What happened in addiction happened. Ask yourself, how could that have been the best thing that's ever happened to me, What learning can I take from it and move forward?