Nichols' 4th Law and Long-Term Recovery

Nichols' 4th Law says, "Avoid any action with an unacceptable outcome." This is about as straight forward as you can get. It is true you can do just about anything and have a negative outcome. It is also possible that you can do just about anything and have a positive outcome. 

Here we are talking about likely outcomes. You should not be taking any actions that make unacceptable outcomes probable. Here are several examples:

1.    I don't want to get into a bar fight. Going to bars could lead to this outcome, which I have deemed unacceptable. Therefore I do not go to bars. "That doesn't mean you won't get into any fights, just because you don't go to bars," yells the cynic. "True," I reply, "but the fights I get into won't be bar fights. If it's in a house, it will be a house fight. If it's in the street it will be a street fight, but there is zero probability it will be a bar fight because I do not go to bars."

2.    Imagine I don't want to have a baby. I know that having sex can produce babies. In fact, it is one on a very short list of ways babies are created, and the only way for it to happen unplanned. If I have sex and I do not want/am not ready for children, then it could produce an unacceptable outcome so I will not have sex.

3.    I don't want to go to jail. I know there are multiple things that could cause me to go to jail. They range from murder to theft to doing drugs and on and on. I make sure, to the best of my ability, that I follow the law.

Nichols' 4th Law is using logic and common sense to make informed, positive  choices. Using rational thinking and a process of elimination/deduction, you look at the possible LIKELY outcomes of an action before you engage in it. If the outcomes are acceptable, then you take action. If the probable outcomes are not acceptable, then you do not.

Let’s apply this to addiction. Nichols' 4th Law posits I should avoid any action that could make drug use a possibility. I know that being around people who do drugs and going to places where drugs are abundant could enable me to use drugs. Therefore, I avoid playgrounds and playmates where drugs are likely to be in use.

It is that simple. If I am not around drugs they are hard for me to obtain. When drugs are hard for me to obtain, drug use becomes improbable. By looking at my options and weighing them I make success more likely.

That is why Nichols' 4th Law is important; it forces us to think before we act. So I hope that you can apply this law to your life. After all, it makes you think. What could be more important than that?