What is the key to quitting addiction?

[eggopm3]

For me it was gradually building up awareness that the addition was adding nothing beneficial to my life and that I'm actively harming myself by continuing to partake in the habit. In terms of drugs I quit alcohol, weed, and coffee. Alcohol was easy to quit once I realized that it was a massive source of depression in my life (though withdrawal was a bitch), and coffee I realized was a huge source of creating unnecessary anxiety in my life. The most difficult of these to quit for me personally was weed because it did have many positive benefits in my life, in that it helped me overcome depression and to do shadow work on myself, but after a while I had to admit to myself that I'd sucked most of the juice out of it and I could no longer justify the cost of using weed every day.

In terms of online habits I quit porn and most social media (hard to get social media down to nothing because it's kind of necessary to connect with certain people in my life but I've reduced it by like 90%). Porn was surprisingly easy to quit once I actually admitted to myself that I was addicted to it (I was in denial about it for a long time) because it had been such a drag on my life for so long that I couldn't deny how much harm it had caused in my life, I was just so fucking sick of it.

I think what's worked best for me in the case of the more challenging additions is gradually reducing my use little by little. Like with social media first I made myself a rule that if someone I followed on twitter was posting 50% or more stuff that I didn't care for I would unfollow them, and then I put tons of words that triggered me into the muted words filter, and then I turned off all retweets, gradually inching myself towards an almost completely dead twitter feed. So when I would habitually check twitter there would be less and less content there to grab hold of my attention, and I would spend less and less time there. And with quitting weed I switched from smoking to using tincture oils and then went from THC oil to CBD oil, until I was barely getting high anymore and then it barely made a difference when I stopped.

Another factor is to not beat myself up for minor relapses. Like if I'm at a party and I smoke a joint or have a drink that's no big deal. Those are more unique occasions and my issue was more with making those things daily habits rather than simply doing them at all.

[Boethius]

@Someone here The treatment modality required probably depends on the level of addiction. I was able to kick my "weekend warrior" routine with alcohol through a month-long online experiment of abstinence (you can look up Annie Grace, in case you're curious about this) that made use of mindfulness to explore our relationship with alcohol. The basic theory was that if we (consciously or unconsciously) desire to keep drinking it will be almost impossible to use willpower alone in giving up alcohol permanently, so we should tackle those desires head on. With three months of total sobriety, I can say that this approach has worked well for me.

[Artsu]

9 hours ago, Someone here said:

I don't know. Maybe because the something that I want just happens to be unhealthy?. 

Well happiness and fulfillment. 

Well then you're sacrificing your health in the name of happiness and fulfillment.

I'm a smoker too so i do the same. I'm not going to tell you not to, but it doesn't sound like you have the right mentality to quit.

If you want to quit, you have to really want it. That means thinking it through and deciding that the happiness is not enough for the sacrifice in health, if that is indeed what you want. A flimsy resolve is not going to help enough with quitting, the decision has to be firm.

You need to be able to say no to the cravings, and to continually say no for weeks and then longer.

[Carl-Richard]

Consciousness, intention and willpower. Observe yourself and try to notice the patterns in your behaviors and how they're manifested by your thoughts: identify specific thoughts (justifications and excuses for continuing said behaviors), get familiar with them and how they try to gain control. Set an intention for a pattern you want to eliminate, and stick with it. A pattern willl only weaken, but never go away completely. Take pain as a measurement of progress. Find a healthy substitute for the activity if it has been a main focus of your time.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Carl-Richard

[Artsu]

4 hours ago, Boethius said:

@Someone here The treatment modality required probably depends on the level of addiction. I was able to kick my "weekend warrior" routine with alcohol through a month-long online experiment of abstinence (you can look up Annie Grace, in case you're curious about this) that made use of mindfulness to explore our relationship with alcohol. The basic theory was that if we (consciously or unconsciously) desire to keep drinking it will be almost impossible to use willpower alone in giving up alcohol permanently, so we should tackle those desires head on. With three months of total sobriety, I can say that this approach has worked well for me.

The thing that works for me with alcohol is remembering that i need to take breaks. After drinking heavily for a while, i start thinking more and more about my liver until it's like, ok, i need to take a break. At the moment my drinking is moderate so I'm not worried about my liver health. Last time i got a check up, i was fine.

Alcohol is something that damages primarily your liver over time, and it builds up. Your liver can repair itself, so take breaks.

If you're unable to take breaks for the sake of your liver - your self protection is battling your pleasure seeking there - then perhaps not drinking at all is best, and then things like online programs may be of benefit.

Smoking i wanted to give up for a few years but "not yet". Now I'm more at peace with it, and I'm just being a smoker, armed with the knowledge that if i want to quit, willpower is all i personally need.

[Hank Galaxy Brain]

1. Replacement with something healthy. Cast out 1 demon, 7 more will take its place. But if you become an angel, that's a different story. Rats in rat-park with all sorts of positive rat things to do, ignore cocaine. If you focus on anything, positive or negative, you will move towards it. Focus on quitting, you'll obsess and beat yourself up over it, reinforcing it. Focus on love, a life mission, and you find yourself forgetting about old things that no longer serve you effortlessly.
2. Mindfulness eradicates addiction. That's the only way I've quit anything. Just agree that if you're going to do it, do it utterly and totally present. choose to do it. Non-judgement. Just do it consciously. And observe the feeling in your body. That's it. Sounds crazy I know.

Edit: this is for non life-endangering addictions I've had. Heroine and stuff you probably need rehab, detox regimin, etc. etc.

Oh and another thing that often helps is: mobilize yourself fully. Use every resource at your disposal to become free. Combination of those has done it for me.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Hank Galaxy Brain
Clarification.

[Boethius]

@Artsu The program I mentioned is primarily for "moderate" drinkers who are conflicted about their drinking. It actually tackles head-on this idea that you are either a normal drinker in total control of your drinking or an alcoholic who needs to abstain for life. This idea is a stumbling block for most people, myself included, since it prevents us from asking a different set of questions like "does alcohol serve me?" and "is alcohol really my friend?" So it's not about whether I should stop drinking but whether I want to keep drinking, and for me the answer turned out to be no.

[Artsu]

45 minutes ago, Boethius said:

@Artsu The program I mentioned is primarily for "moderate" drinkers who are conflicted about their drinking. It actually tackles head-on this idea that you are either a normal drinker in total control of your drinking or an alcoholic who needs to abstain for life. This idea is a stumbling block for most people, myself included, since it prevents us from asking a different set of questions like "does alcohol serve me?" and "is alcohol really my friend?" So it's not about whether I should stop drinking but whether I want to keep drinking, and for me the answer turned out to be no.

Yeah i think alcohol works for some people and not others, and at some times and not others.

Personally, i find that alcohol serves me, and i just need to watch that my drinking doesn't escalate too much.

[Nick_98]

The key to quitting addiction is to quit the addiction there is no key.

To not beat around the bush here. that's just it. 

It could be an extremely heavy emotional process, the urges are going to come and go, there is no rational way to go about it. it's all willpower.

I find this extremely similar to the question of , What's the key to getting shit done? How to stop procrastinating ?

It's to get shit done. there is no easy way to go about it. maybe an emotional support from people is going to help. other than that you going to have to go the hard route. and certainly , the ego don't like it .. probably will give you shit for it, it would come as excuses to relapse, negative emotions, anxiety, whatever. 

Source: Quit cigarettes smoking for 50 days then relapsed.

[Jai]

People got good or bad things to say about AA. It's worked for me been sober from drugs and alcohol for 15 years. Not saying it's for everyone but for me it's been good.

No other bad habit has been nearly as destructive as drugs and alcohol for me. And i'm not anti-drugs or anything. But if you do got a problem with that it's got to get solved. Any other problem or bad habit I've had has been minor in comparison.

Lately I've been on a really good streak of living a disciplined life and getting rid of bad habits. Just building a lot of momentum and getting rid of these bad habits... but nothing at all like quitting drugs and alcohol or the problems those caused in my life. Also at least for me a way different strategy to change.

[K VIL]

for subtle addictions, work on spending more time on positive things and then see your desire to turn back lessen. 

plants grow when you water the seeds

[hyruga]

To quit smoking, you need to tell yourself to quit smoking.

Play sports, get ready lots of sweets instead of cigarettes (Don't talk about diabetes first) Quit smoking first, we will quit sweets later!

Edited July 12, 2020 by hyruga

[Aquarius]

A friend of mine told me he was reading a book on smoking and he said it helped him because it didn't just tell him what the bad side effects were but also the good effects. It helps knowing the full picture not just the bad things. So awareness is definitely helping people in quitting.

Obviously smoking is bad for your health, but knowing both sides can give you perspective on what you are doing. 

Another factor is willpower. I think willpower is most important. I used to smoke cigarettes sometimes, no idea why, it just felt relaxing. I realised they are too expensive and I also started coughing, so I gave most of my cigarette pack to someone who was smoking more than me and I quit since then. 

There's a website that tells you how much you spend on cigarettes, it might help: https://www.quitnow.ca/quitting/calculate-my-savings

[Someone here]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice. Truly appreciate it.   It's hard to respond to all of that tho and also I'm not interested in arguing here lol. Just keep posting helpful stuff .