Long-Term Recovery: The One Rule that Changed My Life

One rule that can change your life…….

Does that sound too good to be true?

 Is there really one rule that can change your life?

YES!!!

I am living proof that you can change your life. I have been through the wringer. I hit rock bottom and grabbed a shovel. It wasn't good enough for me. If being bad was all I was good at I wanted to excel. I gave my addictions my all. I had a hole in me that I kept trying to fill. There was never enough drugs, girls or money to fill the void, so I kept doing more.  

Then I hit my last bottom. I realized I not only needed to get clean, I wanted to get clean. I worked recovery like I had addiction, all day every day. I made positive changes instead of just talking about them. One of those changes was asking myself several questions before I did anything. After a while, I no longer needed to ask myself the questions anymore.

Why?

 Doing the right thing had become my new pattern!

So what do you need to do?

First, realize you may have developed a pattern of doing the wrong thing. Doing the wrong thing can seem like it becomes an automatic reaction. It takes very little thought, because you want to do it. Over time you have formed a habit of doing negative things. Something must happen to disrupt the chaotic, negative pattern you have gotten in to. That is what the one rule does, cause a disruption before action occurs.

Next, imagine the people you love most. Are there things you do that you would not do in front of them? Are there behaviors you engage in that you would not want them to engage in? If the answer is yes to either of these, and it should be, you are ready to move to the next step.

Focus on those people before you do things and ask yourself the following 3 questions:

1.     If my Higher Power was standing beside me, would I do this?

2.     If my (person/people you love the most) was standing beside me, would I do this?

3.     Is this something I would want them to do?

If you can answer yes to all of these, you are good to go. If you can’t, why would you want to do it? Why would you do something you wouldn't want the people you love to do? In order to truly care about them, you must first learn to care for yourself. This helped me learn how to love myself. I had expectations for the people I loved I learned to have for myself.

It really is that simple! Before you do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, ALWAYS ask yourself those 3 questions. Adding this and the 5 Pillars of Recovery (http://betterlifeinrecovery.blogspot.com/2014/12/long-term-recovery-5-pillars-of-recovery.html) to  your life will allow you to have a Better Life in Recovery!