Multi-speaker discussion explaining the "three circles" relapse-prevention tool. Inner circle (red/crash) lists behaviors to avoid; middle circle (yellow/orange) lists warning signs and guardrails to prevent escalation; outer circle (green) lists healthy, restorative behaviors and self-care to maintain recovery. Speakers emphasize applying the framework holistically (e.g., food) and writing a clear, concrete plan.
So let's just talk about the three circles. What is it?
The three circles? The famous three circles. Yeah. This one gets referenced more in the beginning when I'm running a group, I'm like. And then go to page.
What is it?
153. Look at this. Because this is where you're going to do this. And I just love it as well. And it's basically that sequence of events that events and thoughts that lead us back to relapse. So it also gives us a way to live outside of our normal relapse state. So we can define specifically what a relapse is. And that's where we have the inner circle, the foxhole, the crash site. Because oftentimes when you're coming into this process, you're just like, there's a bunch of stuff. There's just like one thing I don't want to do, or maybe there's a bunch of stuff that I feel like I shouldn't do. This helps you define exactly what it is you're trying to avoid. What are those things? And then those middle steps that probably no one has thought about up until this is what's the kind of the clues that is telling me I'm leading or I'm going back to the things I don't want to do. And then finally the last one, which I never put together was if I just focus on these things, this outer circle, I'm going to stay out of relapse. I'm not going to be thinking about it. I just going to be living in restoration. Because that's really what it is. It's our self care and our, the way we live in restoration. So really comprehensive way to live.
Yeah, it's really a picture of what does health look like for us as we're in recovery and then beyond recovery. What is our new normal going to be? And I think in most areas of our life we have these three circles in mind. We maybe just haven't clarified what they are. So it's maybe a little easier to see if you think about food that we would all think of. And we might not ever call it a relapse with food, but we would know if, you know, if we sat in. Yeah, some people would. If we just sat and binged on a whole box of Oreos, we'd be like, that was bad, I shouldn't have done that. And that's like a crash. But we also have kind of boundaries or guardrails about food that's like, okay, I should probably only eat one dessert, maybe have One soda or drink one beer, if we're into that. Like, so we kind of have those ideas, and then we know what healthy eating looks like. I should eat vegetables. I should drink lots of water. So if you think about an area like that that's common to all of us, we have those circles in our lives, what we're trying to avoid, where we need to be careful and what we do to stay healthy. And so really, it's just applying that system to our recovery, to sexual behaviors, to things we're trying to change and to look holistically to say, what do I have to avoid? And what am I committed to avoiding altogether? Where do I need to be careful and know what those guardrails are? And then what does health look like? And then taking the time to actually write that out and clarify it so that it's not just vague and ambiguous, but that we're clear on, this is my plan. And then once you have that plan, you can be more successful to stick to it.
Yeah. So let me just summarize it. Then the inner circle is what we call the red circle, which is the behavior I want to avoid.
Or crash.
Yep, the crash. And then you've got the middle circle, which is the yellow or the orange, depending on how you see color, which is a whole other argument here at Beer Desire. But that is the guardrails, what we set in place to try to help us avoid that behavior. And then the outer circle, or the green circle is health. What does health look like? And it's not just sexual health. It's what are things that help me pursue health holistically, that help me maintain that direction in life, that I want to go.
