How I Broke Free From Crystal Meth (Simple Method)

Hey y'all, Dallas Bragg, recovery coach for men who have sex with men and want to break free from crystal meth. On this channel, you're going to get lots of resources for recovery through daily short-form and weekly long-form videos. And also don't miss my podcast called The Aftermath, also found on this channel. Please subscribe so you do not miss any of my content. All right, so today I'm going to share an answer to the most frequent question I'm asked through my DMs, and that is, how did you do it? How I broke free from daily IV use of crystal meth could be a very layered and very complicated answer, but it really isn't. I chose the path of least resistance. What I mean by that is I set up my life so that there was no room For choice. From the day I stood in front of my kids and promised to quit using crystal meth, or Tina, I filled my life so full that abstinence was my only option. Not to mention I was looking at a prison sentence, right? I was rising at 5 AM to catch the public bus downtown to the courthouse to pee in a cup. Then across town to the drug treatment program I was in, and then back across town again to my serving job at a little taco place. And I worked there until 2 AM. And on the days that the restaurant didn't schedule me, I picked up a shift. And then eventually I ended up getting a second job. Those observing me love-bombed me with admiration. They would say, look at how hard he's working at sobriety. What they didn't understand is that I knew myself well enough that I would return to Tina if I had any room to make my own choices. My life was designed out of necessity. That experience still benefits me today. I distill my day-to-day down to almost No choice. My calendar is scheduled hour by hour, right down to my power naps. My food is prepared ahead of time so I don't have to choose and decide what am I eating today. It's already made for me. The simpler I make my life, the more powerful I become. By the way, this is the number one reason that my, my clients continue to fail. They leave too much space in their life in early recovery to make decisions on their own. In the first year, the pull of Tina is so strong that it is not wise to take a risk and gamble because the odds are on crystal meth. If you'd like to learn more about my coaching philosophy, click on the click here button in the show notes to apply for my one-on-one coaching program. Your life could look much different in 6 months. All right. So does this mean that after almost 7 years, I still can't trust myself? No. It means that I've learned a valuable lesson in my life from my experience with crystal meth, one of the many. And I carry that lesson forward to reach my full potential now. Again, the simpler I make my life, the more powerful I become. This is why I resonate with a principle from a book I follow called A Course in Miracles. The course states that we only have 2 emotions to choose from: fear and love. Distilling the overwhelming concept of emotional regulation into 2 choices has allowed me to become deeply self-aware, emotionally intelligent, and profoundly helpful as a recovery coach. So let's discuss fear and love. So growing up in the gay community, many of us learned to live in fear. Fear became our constant companion, our friend, really shaping our choices before we even realized we were choosing, right? There was fear of rejection. It whispered that we needed to be different. There was the fear of not being enough that drove us to seek validation in increasingly dangerous places. Fear of being too much taught us to dim our light. Fear of being seen made us hide our truth. Fear of not being seen at all pushed us toward increasingly dramatic ways of getting attention. Drama queen, right? These fears didn't appear out of nowhere, though. They grew from early experiences where we learned that safety meant hiding, that love was conditional, and that acceptance came at a price. Some of us grew up in homes where our difference was met with silence or shame. Others found themselves in communities where our worth. was measured by our bodies, our status on the totem pole, or our ability to party. Each of these experiences reinforced the belief that we weren't okay just as we were. So enter crystal meth, or Tina, a substance that seemed to answer every fear with a powerful promise. It whispered that we could be fearless, Desirable, connected. It offered an escape from the constant anxiety of not measuring up. When we were high, we finally felt seen, wanted, and enough. The drug became our shield against vulnerability, our ticket to belonging, our shortcut, right? Our solution to the deep loneliness that had become so familiar in our lives. But like all promises, That are born from fear instead of love, it was an illusion. What started as a solution became its own prison. The very substance that we used to escape our fears ended up amplifying them. Fear of being found out, fear of losing control, fear of what might— we might do to get the next hit, like fear of who we were becoming. The crystal meth didn't eliminate our fears. It just temporarily numbed our ability to feel, to feel them while creating new ones in their place. Here's what I've learned in my journey and through studying A Course in Miracles. We choose fear or love at any given moment. There really is no middle ground. No gray area, no in-between. Y'all, y'all that are black and white thinkers and absolute thinkers are going to really dig this. I know every thought we think, every word we speak, and every action we take stems from one of these 2 emotions. This isn't just spiritual theory; it's a practical tool for understanding our choices. In transforming our recovery journey and ultimately transforming our entire life experience aftermath. When we understand this fundamental truth, recovery shifts from being just another fearful struggle to a sacred path of returning to love. It's no longer about fighting against addiction or forcing ourselves to sober through willpower. Instead, it becomes a moment-by-moment practice of choosing love over fear, of remembering who we really are beneath all the layers of protection we built to feel safe. Think about this. When we're using crystal meth, we're choosing based on fear. Fear of facing our feelings. Fear of intimacy. Fear of not being enough. But when we choose to abstain from a place of love, self-love, we're choosing to honor our true selves, to trust in our innate worthiness, to believe in our capacity to heal and connect authentically. So let's go a little deeper. Fear is the voice of the ego, and you can search my videos. Maybe I'll try to put one here, a link to it. Um, to another video I did explaining what the ego is. When we're operating from fear, we're listening to the ego, that part of us that believes in lack, in separation between you and me, and the need for external validation. I know this sounds familiar to you. The ego is the voice that tells us to run from life when emotions get difficult. Tells us that relapse is bad and that we are an even worse person for doing it. Tells us that we need crystal meth to feel confident in sexual situations. Convinces us we're not worthy of genuine connection. And it whispers that we'll never be enough without the high. It insists that recovery is too hard and that relapse is inevitable. So I want you to take a moment to reflect. When was the last time you made a decision about using or not using? And what were you listening to? Did you operate from fear or from love? So love is the voice of your higher self. Love speaks differently. It's the quiet voice of truth. That helps us to feel love for ourselves unconditionally, no matter what. Allows us to see everyone else as the same, not different. Reminds us that we are whole and complete exactly as we are. Shows us that genuine connection comes from authenticity, not chemicals. It knows that our worth isn't determined by our past decisions, right? And it gently guides us toward healing one moment at a time. And you will know when you tune in, am I gently being guided toward healing or am I gently being guided backward to where I've been? Once you've made a deliberate intention to observe your thoughts, your feelings, your words throughout the day and And again, becoming the observer is the number one way that you're going to break free from addictive patterns. You will be able to discern right away where each thought, each word, each emotion is born. You'll begin to pause in mid-sentence when you suddenly discern that the words you're about to speak are from a place of fear. You'll be able to pause in mid-thought and filter out that fear-based thought pattern before they become words. You'll be able to pause and shift in your physical body when an emotion arises that is not rooted in love and observe it, but not attach to it. All you have to do is set an intention. It is that simple. The rest will come, I promise. So here's an exercise to do. It's called the love mirror. You sit in front of a mirror for 5 minutes. I know it's uncomfortable. Set a timer. Look into your own eyes. For each judgmental thought that arises, counter it with, I choose to see love instead of this. Notice how your body feels when you shift from the judgment to love. Remember that feeling, register that feeling, and you'll be able to feel it down the road. So how do you discern between fear and love? How do you do that? This section, to me, The video is the most important that you're going to hear when it comes to recovery. Understanding the nature of fear and love will put you on a new trajectory. Your life won't be all about abstaining from crystal meth. It will evolve into realizing your full potential. It will become the embodiment of the life you've always meant to live. live your best and highest existence. Operating from love creates love. Your life will drastically change and look so different than it does right now, I promise. So I'm going to— I want you to listen to these lists that I'm going to go over and take note. Compare your emotions, your thoughts, your words, and your actions to these lists. Begin to ask yourself, is this rooted in fear or love? Now, every day, veer more into love. So write this down. Fear feels constricting. Fear feels urgent, like you're being pushed. Fear sounds like should and must. It's focused on the past. Or the future. That's when you know you're operating from fear. Love feels expansive, patient, big picture, like you're being guided. It's full of choice and possibility, openness, and present in the now. I want you to write those differences down. Rewind and listen. And then you can start to gauge when you are in one or the other. So when you think about staying abstinent today, does the thought feel expansive or constricting? Are your recovery goals coming from a place of self-punishment or self-love? And what would change in your recovery if you approached it from complete self-love? self-acceptance. So let's talk about the practice of choosing love. Recovery becomes easier when we understand that every moment presents the same simple choice: fear or love. So here's how to practice choosing love. Number 1, pause and breathe. When you have cravings or difficult emotions that arise, pause. Take 3 deep breaths. I suggest 4 in, hold for 4, out for 8. 4 in, hold for 4, out for 8. This creates space between the trigger and your response. Number 2, question the voice. Ask yourself, is this thought, is this voice in my head coming from love or fear? And what am I afraid of in this moment? And what would love do here? Hmm. Number 3, choose again. If you notice you're choosing fear, simply choose again. Listen, the course teaches us that we always have another chance to choose love. So here's a journal exercise. Love letter. Write a letter to yourself from the perspective of pure love. What would love say about your struggles with addiction, your worth and value as a person, Your capacity for healing, your future in recovery. And here's a daily practice. It's a fear-to-love transformation. Keep a small notebook with you throughout the day. When you notice fear-based thoughts, write them down, then rewrite them, each thought from a perspective of love. Every time you choose love over fear, even in the smallest moments, you're healing Not just yourself, but you're contributing to the healing of our entire community. Your recovery isn't about becoming a different person. It's about returning to the truth of who you've always been—a perfect expression of love. Temporary believing the ego's fears and the ego's voice. When the path feels difficult, ask yourself. What would love do here? That answer will always guide you home. I love you all so much. I appreciate you, and I am honored to bring this to you. I hope that you enjoy this, that you'll listen to this, that you'll write it down, that you'll rewind it, that you will take it to heart. This is the key. This is what I did. This is how I did it. This is how I'm coming up on seven years. Without crystal meth. Choosing love over fear. Now take a moment, place your hand on your heart, close your eyes, breathe deeply. Can you feel— can you feel the love that's always been there, waiting, waiting to come out, waiting? For you to embody your true self. Waiting for you to leave crystal meth behind. Feel that? If you like this video, tell me in the comments. I'd love to hear from you. Thank you.