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

Recovery Is Not About Abstinence #recoveryispossible

24 Sept 2024 · 1 min

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In this segment, Dallas Bragg argues that framing recovery solely around the goal of being completely addiction‑free creates an external‑reward mindset that treats sobriety as a future reward and the present effort as punishment. Measuring worth by whether meth has been used leads to shame, failure, and unsustainable recovery. Bragg proposes shifting to intrinsic motivation—finding value, satisfaction, and even dopamine hits in the recovery journey itself—so that the process becomes rewarding in its own right, making long‑term recovery more sustainable.

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So when trying to quit, if we focus solely on the end goal of being addiction-free, we're still operating on external reward mindset. We're essentially telling ourselves, I'll be happy when I'm sober, which makes the process of getting there feel like punishment. Because when we measure our worth and our success in recovery on whether or not we've put meth in our bodies, We are setting ourselves up for more and more failure and shame. Recovery becomes more sustainable when we shift from extrinsic motivation— quitting or avoiding consequences or gaining external rewards— to intrinsic motivation. What that means is you're finding the value and satisfaction in the recovery process itself. The journey. We find dopamine hits in the actual journey.