Maybe Quitting an Addiction Isn't as Difficult as You Think

If I'd heard someone say that to me years ago I would have argued. Of course it's difficult. You have to have a desire to quit, you have to go to self-help groups and pour your heart out.....THEN you have to go to these groups all the time. Then you end up thinking about your addiction every day and talking to people about it. You find yourself reading articles about people just like yourself who are addicted. These people are just like you and you feel an affinity with them.

But then after a few months it starts getting old---going to the meetings, seeing the same people sharing the same stories---you think about your addiction again. The newness is gone. You think about going back to your addiction out of boredom.

What if it were possible to just say, "ENOUGH! I don't want to be addicted anymore!" And what if it took? It happens all the time.

Isn't this LESS difficult than the previous? Not that meetings are bad---they're not, but they're not for everybody. Personally, meetings wouldn't have helped me. But think about the possibility.....of just quitting to get on with your life......

Spirituality and Addictions

When I used to drink years ago I remember something I told myself. I knew I wanted to be closer to God or spirituality but I wanted to drink too. So, I decided to put God on the back burner until I decided how my drinking was going to go.

Alcohol doesn't allow for thoughts to be rational. I could have saved myself a lot of misery by opening up to the idea of giving up alcohol, but on no! Not so fast! That was where my courage and confidence came from. Alcohol helped me through the fears too. No, God would have to wait for awhile.

But the day I quit drinking I saw how important it was that I then have God somehow in my life. I was new to it all so I didn't know what to pray for or what to expect, but I was always told to be open to God. So I was.

Someone gave an analogy about the existence of God recently. Someone had told this person he didn't believe in God. So this person told the "unbeliever" that he had bought a laptop. For the longest time he didn't know it had a camera in it. Then he found out that the laptop DID have a camera. Now just because he didn't KNOW it had a camera in it, didn't mean there wasn't one.

I'll never forget that story........


Linda Joy Allan

Someone Died from a Drunk Driver

I read the local paper a few weeks ago. A young woman, 22, was drunk and hit a wife and mother, 53 years old. She worked locally and was liked by many. Those kinds of stories bother me for days. I can't get the thought out of my mind that the kids don't have a mother anymore, the husband lost his wife and best friend probably and all the friends and family have to suffer for a long time. All because someone got drunk and got in the car and drove.

It's too weird to think about really. How can this happen? It's not fair. No, it's not. This woman who drove drunk and killed will probably never be the same. How can she ever forget she killed someone because she was irresponsible. Will she be remorseful and stop drinking? Or will she do what so many do when they have problems......drink, take drugs---escape somehow.

Sad situation all around....



Linda Joy Allan

If You Really Want to Quit Drinking....

Then quit! I know this sounds harsh but think about it. Why can't you just quit if you say you want to quit. It's ruining your life, it's an out of control life that you don't like anymore, you keep saying you want to quit and everyone in your life tells you it's time to quit.

But for some reason (and that reason you really don't know), you can't do it "yet."

There will never be a great time to quit drinking. The mind has a funny way of trying to convince you of things that aren't true. Don't you find that for yourself?

What if you said, really said....it's time.....yes, it's time....then just do it.

It CAN be done.......(I speak from experience).

Linda Joy Allan
dovelinpublishing.com

I Quit Smoking

I quit smoking 7.5 years ago. If you would have asked me the day before I quit if I would ever quit I probably would have said no. I liked it too much. But I got sick for several days and couldn't smoke. Then, on the 5th day of not smoking, I had such a bad day at work I promised myself a cigarette when I got home.

I drove home anticipating my first cigarette in days. I deserved it. I drove up to my house, threw my purse on the bed, grabbed a cigarette from the pack and headed outside. I lit it.......ahhhhhhhh. Yuck! It was horrible. But I would perservere. Again, I took a hit off the cigarette and it was terrible. I smoked a few more puffs then realized it wasn't going to be a good night for me smoking. I put out the cigarette, never imagining it would be my last. But it was.

I always thought I would miss smoking, but I don't. I wouldn't let myself think too much about NOT smoking for months. Every time I could feel the thoughts coming about smoking I gently brought my thoughts almost above my thoughts if that makes sense, to a gentle place where I could just feel the thoughts leave me. After doing this for several months I realized I was free of cigarettes.

Taking Vicadin and Wine to Help Ease the Pain

I just spoke with my friend. She and her husband are going through difficult times and are separated. They had their last therapy session yesterday and it looks like---for now anyway---that they will continue staying apart.

My friend called me up crying which is highly unusual. The day just took a toll on her. After we hung up she had 2 glasses of wine and a vicadin. We talked today...she called up her husband and just didn't care what she said to him. She said things she couldn't say, or wouldn't say when she's straight. She even called someone she briefly dated several months ago and spoke for an hour.

I remember doing these sorts of things when I drank. It WAS easier to pick up the phone and tell someone what was truly on my mind when I was drinking. It DID make me bolder.

Boy, am I glad I'm straight all the time now......