Relapse Prevention Strategies for People Who Are SERIOUS About Recovery!

In today's video, we are going to talk about the three main causes of relapse. If you want to ensure you beat addiction, make sure you subscribe to this channel. We release new videos every week and I can guarantee you we will give you what you need to conquer this problem once and for all. Okay, let's get into our topic, the three reasons for relapse. And I'm going to put these in somewhat of an order because I think the stronger your recovery gets, the stronger your disease of addiction gets and it will come at you in different ways. So I'm going to start with the basic level number one, and we're going to move down into the advanced level number three. Okay. The first and probably most common reason people relapse on drugs and alcohol is because they had some form of thinking, I'm different. And this can look a lot of different ways. It can mean, okay, yeah, I get it, I'm an alcoholic, but I'm not a drug addict, I can still use those drugs or yeah, I'm an addict, but hey, I can still smoke marijuana. It's some form of, hey, you don't know me, I'm a little different than everybody else and those rules don't apply to me. So it's this idea of I'm special, I'm unique, I'm different, and I don't have to do it the way everyone else is telling me to do it, including my family, my sponsor, my recovery coach, my 12 step group, my treatment center, and everyone else around me. Guess what? That is the most common reason why people relapse. And that's okay, because recovery is a learning process and you pretty much got to go through all those things. So that's level number one. Reason number two, while people relapse is because they fail to really fully appreciate the powerfulness of addiction. Have you heard that saying, addiction is cunning and baffling? Well, it is absolutely the case. And when you fail to appreciate addiction, just how strong this thing is, just the mind control it can have on you and everyone around you, you've got to have a healthy respect for what you're dealing with. This thing knows exactly what your vulnerabilities are. It knows exactly where the cracks in your armor are and it will weasel in there and do whatever it has to do to take you down. And obviously it's got a lot of ways to do this. But the good news is addiction is pretty predictable. Basically what you need to remember is addiction want to get you off to yourself. It wants to get you Disconnected from everything and every person around you that's holding your recovery solid. I like to say it's like a lion hunting for a gazelle, man. It like it wants to chase after you, get you separated from the pack, take you when you're weak, by yourself, invulnerable, and pounce. That's how this disease is going to get ahold of you. I used to have a young guy in a group that I ran years ago, and he used to always say this thing. He used to say, just as soon as you get used to one voice, it will change its voice and tell you something else. So, for example, when you're a newbie, your disease tells you things like, just one last time, or I'll just have a couple. Well, once you've been around the block a time or two, you stop listening to that because you know it's a bunch of bull. Well, then it starts to tell you more advanced things, which is something like, oh, you can do this. You never had a problem with this. Or it'll tell you something like, oh, you can go over your cousin Ray Ray's house because you haven't seen him in a long time, and you're just saying, hey, you're not going to use. Listen, it's gonna do whatever it has to do. Sometimes it's the short game, like just one more time, and sometimes it's the long game where it just little by little by little gets you closer and closer and closer until it has you off by yourself like that lone little gazelle, and pounce. You have got to have a healthy respect and appreciation for just how powerful this thing is. And now that we've said all that, let's move on to the reason people relapse. Number three. So let's say you. You get it. You're not different. You have this problem. And you do have a healthy respect for exactly how powerful addiction and alcoholism really are. You could fall into category number three, which is a little category I like to call the efforts. This is when you let yourself get so stressed out, worn down, exhausted. Basically what happens here is you don't do a really good job of dealing with your mental health, your relationships, your stresses, your spirituality, and you let yourself get worn down to the point that you start feeling sorry for yourself. You start having a little victim thinking. Because when you get stressed out enough and you have enough resentments and you feel bad enough for yourself, you just get to the point that you're just like, eff it, I don't even care. I'm just gonna drink. I don't care if I drink myself to death. You get to that point where it's just over. You throw your hands up in the air and it is on. And not only is it a relapse, it's gonna be a big old, bad, dirty, ugly relapse like it is on like Donkey Kong. So do not let yourself get to the effort, no matter what. Okay? So I know I promised you if you watch this whole video, you are going to get a bonus and you're going to get a good one. I'm going to give you access to our 30 day jump start program. This is the same program that we give to our clients when they're newly coming into our office and getting all situated in their recovery process. All you have to do is click the link. It's in the description below. Today it's a short little email that has a little short video attached to it. And these videos are designed to keep you motivated for recovery and help you avoid all those pitfalls that could possibly get in your way. And after that, I want you to watch this next video. I'm going to put it right up here so it's easy for you to click, which is early sobriety tips for success, how to get your first year sober. And in this video, you're going to hear from David and Lucas. Both these guys have long term recovery. They've sponsored other guys, they're recovery coaches and they're going to give you their top seven tips on how to stay sober and get to that first year.