Dallas Bragg gives early recovery people tactics for long holiday weekends when urges spike. Eliminate access to your substance entirely, hand your phone to someone you trust, and spend time alone reflecting. Practicing these steps rewires how you see yourself until not using becomes automatic.
We have a long holiday weekend coming up, and for an addict, that means subtly making plans to figure out how to take advantage of the extra day off. How can I fit a binge in? If you're in early recovery and you're afraid this is gonna happen, do what I tell my clients, which is handcuff yourself. It means create an environment where access to the drug is as close to 0% as possible. You've heard me say this, but even give your phone away to someone for the weekend. Spend some time with yourself for once. And you have to remember, this is all temporary. After so many times of doing this, you're going to start reprogramming your identity to say, I am someone who does not use drugs. So then when the long weekend comes along, there's not even a thought or a consideration of using because that's not in your identity anymore.
