^{Disclaimer: While we at antiprohibit.org do have experience with all of the subjects discussed in this article, we are not professionals. If you or someone you know is struggling with active addiction, we recommend that you seek professional help. Thank you for being here.}

That asterisk after the word “active” in the title is there for a reason. Once you become addicted to a substance, the likelihood of struggling with it for the rest of your life is all but guaranteed. This isn’t a clickbait article (we hate clickbait – you can read about our opinion on that type of misleading content here).

If you’ve never struggled with addiction or addictive tendencies, count yourself one of the lucky ones. A majority of people have addictive tendencies, but some addictions are more destructive than others.  With the rise of illicit fentanyl, it’s become a matter of life and death even more so than it already was. Every hour, eight people in the United States die of completely preventable opioid overdoses Let that sink in.

I recently decided to outline the steps I took to finally beat my opiate addiction once and for all, and distilled the my knowledge and experience I gained along the way down to just six steps (eat that, AA! – just kidding, I love AA). I have been careful to generalize these steps enough to be applicable to the widest possible audience, while maintaining enough specificity to be useful. If you have any additonal tips, feel free to share them by commenting on this article.

What the Research Says

Current research shows that addictions are best replaced instead of eliminated. If you’re trying to curb an active addiction, you’re much more likely to succeed if you replace the destructive behavior with a healthy one, or at least one less destructive than the original.  That’s the concept behind ORT (Opioid Replacement Therapy), nicotine gum, and benzodiazepines for alcohol withdrawal (although the latter is more for the dangerous physical symptoms than it is for the psychological replacement value). This checks out with my personal experience quitting drugs. Any time I tried to simply “stop getting high,” I failed.  It wasn’t until I replaced my addiction with healthy behaviors that I saw progress. I haven’t touched heroin for almost 15 years, and recently quit smoking and vaping using the same method that I will outline below. If you’re ready to finally end your active addiction to opioids,other narcotics, alcohol, nicotine, and any other substance or behavior, read on to learn what worked for me.

If I can do it, so can you!

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Five Steps to Beat Active Addiction

• Step One: Change your Mindset – Addiction is a pschological disease, so beating it involves the mind.  Seeing a therapist, cognitive behavioral therapy, developing coping mechanisms, getting a support system like AA or NA, and changing your outlook are all critical components to achieving lasting change. The number one peice of advice I can give to anyone trying to beat their addiction is to be forgiving and patient with yourself, but not leanient.  Grab a copy of Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life.” Pay attention to rule #4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, not to Who Other People are Today. In my opinion, this is  a form of self-love that is life changing.  When you’re trying to get clean and sober, especially in the beginning, it’s easy to become negative in your outlook. By using yourself as the measuring tool, you are better able to gauge your progress and avoid the negative thoughts that come along with comparing yourself to other people.
• Step Two: Noursish Your Body – You can’t feel better if your body is still malnourished and hurting from weeks, months, uears, or even decades of abuse. Personally, I approach this through a combination of dietary supplementation and excercise.  I take supplements from BioTRUST. Their products are top-notch, taste great, work well, and they have great deals on annual plans. Another supplement I’ve been taking lately is NMN. It’s an amino acid that converts to NAD+. Both are produced naturally in the body, but levels change as we age.  Current research shows that NMN aids with physical wellbeing, while NAD+ boosts cognitive performance, and assits in muscle recovery. To that end, I recommend Bowflex home gyms for personal excercise, because their equipment is low impact, and there’s a lot of science behind the difference between the contstant resistance flex equipment provides vs standard weighlifting. I have lost over 40 lbs since I got sober (I didn’t have a Bowflex when I started my journey, but I wish I had).

• Step Three: Replace Your Addiction – Replacement can mean many things. Some addictions like caffeine and pornography addiction are best treated by mere abstinance. However, others like opiate and alcohol addiction require a replacement – it can actually  be dangerous to quit some of these without a form of replacement medication.
• Step Four: Keep Your Focus – This may sound corny, but write a journal describing the way you see a life free from active addiction. Be specific. Write about how nice it would be not to need something to feel well upon waking, how much money you’ll save, what you’ll be able to afford in a year if you don’t spend it on drugs, etc. The point here is to create a vision of the future for yourself. Get excited about it. This will help you through the early days of sobriety.
• Step Five: Enjoy Your Newfound Freedom – Take some of the money you’re saving on narcotics, and put it in a vacation fund or use it to fund a dream. After all, what’s the point of putting in the effort to change if you’re not enjoying your life? Life is short. Remember to stop along the way and smell the roses. It sounds cheesy, but I have relapsed countless times because I forgot to nourish my soul and spirit in sobriety. It’s important, so don’t forget to have some fun – just make sure it’s clean fun if you intend to stay sober.

If you’re struggling with active addiction, remember: you’re not alone. There is help available. If you don’t know where to start, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) is the United States’ official addiction helpline. If you’re having an emergency, call 998 to speak with someone who can help you right away.

Do you have any other tips that you used to help you get or stay sober? If so, drop them below! Thanks!

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