In short whenever you feel a craving this is actually a WITHDRAWAL symptom. You are feeling the consequences of your addiction disease. These are very dangerous and are the first to happen in any relapse.
Whenever you identify a craving you MUST try and refrain, but honestly that can only last so long. So basically you need to do another action very quickly to kind of sidetrack your mind. Here we are going to equip you with the top 10 ways to refrain, and get past a craving. If you add all of these to your toolbox, you can pull them out whenever you feel the urge in any situation!
NOTE: These are listed in order of effectiveness that have worked for me - Kyle
Reframing
Cognitive reframing is a technique used to shift your mindset so you're able to look at a situation, person, or relationship from a slightly different perspective. This is one of the best ways to fight a craving. And its to identify the thought/situation/place that caused you to have a craving in the first place. If you can being to identify what that was, you can adjust your perspective on it. Change your way of thinking to any other one for now, the current way is causing addiction.
Literally Run Away / Change Your Environment
Sometimes I just leave the scene from where my craving took place. This allowed my brain to take in new information and think about something else. Get in your car, take a walk, put you and your future first and get a into new environment.
Soothing Strategy
The soothing strategy is to actively get into a behaviour that is going to calm you down. This helps to get you on the right mindset, where it calms you down. I like to do this when i am frustrated, i can think clearly after. At first I would rub my hair or tap my face, as these are thins I did as a child. Now I like to breath regularly with constant speeds very deeply and that soothes me now.
Get Dopamine Differently
In this technique you want to blast your brain with new dopamine that doesn't relate you your addiction at all. What I like to do is just blast music that I love. This floods my brain with dopamine in a different way. Honestly I do anything to get through a craving that isn't what I was doing before. Even drastic things! Go eat a doughnut, eat a chocolate bar, or try something you just love to do.
Exercise
When my cravings got bad enough. I just ran as fast as I could sometimes, or just went to the gym at weird times like at 2AM. This helped, as there is a physical relationship with your mind and body. And balancing this with exercise is a great coping mechanism.
Mindfulness/Acceptance
If you think very clearly about what caused your craving trigger, you can get to the point where you understand why you had your craving in the first place. This takes a lot of practice and self reflection and really isn't for the faint of heart. Some serious self reflection is required, but this is one of the most reqrding options. In fact I generally think that mediation and practicing gratitude pays off so much that it's worth somewhere around 100-200$/hour. So really, you're even making money doing this! Make that money and stay sober! win-win!
Talk to Somebody FAST
This is a really good one. Call someone that has your back, they could talk you off the cliff and get you out of your own head. Call your sponsor, call your mom, call your buddy, call someone! And DON'T STOP UNTIL SOMEONE PICKS UP! Even if you don't want to talk about your craving with them, the worst thing that could happen is you check in with them and catch up.
Self-Care
Here you just take care of yourself. This can be done in many forms, I usually brush my teeth, and like take a shower. (for some people this is just mandatory stuff... don't @ me) This goes along the soothing strategy, and I like to flow the soothing strategy into this one, helps me stay calm and collected and get me to do something productive.
The Memory Trick
Thinking of a long distant memory can help you change your thoughts in your brain. This is basically a diversion technique that works. I like to think about playing sports as a kid or my fond memories fishing!
Remind Yourself of the Consequences
You do have a lot at stake in your recovery. Between potential overdoses and job education challenges, life is just worse in active addiction. Activly think about the consequences and where like will take you if you relapse. Things WILL WITHOUT A DOUBT get better if you abstain.
Trust me, anything you do but give into your addiction is the best things for you in the moment. Figure out what works best for you!
- Best Kyle
