Getting and Staying Straight
“I don’t drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs.” Robert Downey Junior
When highly visible people like Robert Downey Junior or Matthew Perry become addicted to drugs and alcohol, they enter high end rehabilitation centers for awhile and out they come surrounded by glitzy publicity and high drama. But what about when they get home?
If someone has been drinking and/or drugging for some time, a few weekends away from alcohol or drugs is not going to hack it. This also goes for people who haven’t much resistance to gambling, eating themselves into heart-stopping obesity – or so addicted to sex that their lives are disrupted, “dissed” and endangered. So what’s the answer?
Some folks are hiring “sober buddies,” folks who have been there, done that, got straight and sober, and now rent out to others who need help getting through the days following rehab. Can it work?
Doug Caine, ex-alcoholic and founder of Los Angeles-based Sober Champion, says it can and has. He’s been offering Sober Buddies to addiction challenged rehab graduates since 2005. However, not everyone can afford $500.00 to $17,000 a day. So some rehab grads rely on the old tried and true – 12-Step programs – and more of what are part of Caine’s Sober Buddies’ bag of tactics.
Here are some tactics used by Caine’s SB’s; anyone can use them. Rules: No seeing old buddies who enabled you into addiction — ever; no “hanging” out with “yes” people who tell you what you want to hear not what you need to hear (do you really have a death wish?); and no “just one”. Use distraction to get over drinking/doping urges – walk, run, bike, become a “gym rat”, work, read, play air guitar for the day if need be but distract yourself. GO REGULARLY TO 12 STEP MEETINGS. YES, YOU DO TOO HAVE TIME. GO EVENINGS, GO DAYS, GO MORNINGS, GO TO TWO MEETINGS A DAY IF THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES.
Meditation for the Day
“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” Andy Warhol, artist/writer, cultural icon
Action for the Day
Today, I will do whatever it takes to make the right changes in my life and to grow. I will honor myself and those who love me. I will not con myself or others. No lies, no excuses, no weasel words. I will tell it and live it like it is and thank God or whoever is my Higher Power for the courage to do so.
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