The 3 Essential Ingredients to Beating Alcohol Addiction

Beating alcohol addiction is a process that occurs in 2 stages. Early recovery and long term sobriety (the rest of your life) are the stages that make up your recovery journey.

The first part of recovery is the initial shocking experience of sobriety where you are overwhelmed because you are suddenly sober and no longer self medicating. This is what I would refer to as early recovery. There is no specific amount of time that someone might take in this stage of their sobriety; some alcoholics are going to be in it for a few months and for others it might take a lot longer. But regardless, there is certainly a rough period in early recovery when the best you can do is cling to your new sobriety and simply not drink each day. This stage of recovery is very different from when you have been sober for a few years or even for several months.

One key in terms of recovering from alcohol addiction is the drive to learn new things about how to live successfully. You have to relearn how to do the most basic things in your life without alcohol. This might sound quite trivial but in fact it can be quite an ordeal. Addiction help is all about learning so you have to be open to new ideas and concepts and remain teachable if you're going to stay sober for long. That means that you have to be receptive to learning new things on a day to day basis. If you are arrogant when it comes to learning you will not succeed in early recovery.

Another key to early sobriety is in connecting with other people who are also recovering. This is why 12 step meetings are so popular and helpful in early recovery. We need other people in recovery who are experiencing what we are in order to gain information and hope from them. This is part of the educational experience as well...it is hard to learn new things if there is nobody to instruct you. In early sobriety, our peer group is how we learn new things based on their experience, strength, and hope that they share.

The third key to overcoming alcohol addiction is the pursuit of personal growth. You're realize that this also compares well with learning and they two are actually very similar. But your holistic growth path is more than just learning new things, it is also about finding a reason for life itself and helping others. An example of this could be a regular exercise program that someone in recovery might use as an important pillar of their recovery strategy. This isn't just about learning new stuff but is also just a good habit in general that can be a crucial part of sobriety.