(Bulgarian Salt Mine Smoker)
The consequences of addiction lead down many paths that in recovery we struggle to conquer.
After 8 years of being on the wagon, off the wagon and back on again, I finally had my last and final drink. Four years after that, four years into what is now my 17th year of continuous recovery, I broke the second chain of my past addictions:
I QUIT SMOKING!
There are two relevant things I wish to express here:
1) Change your perspective and it will change your life.
2) Become responsible for the inevitable consequences which arrive long your addictive behaviors no longer control your life.
One of the simplest and most life-changing things I ever read was folded countless times into the tiny pamphlet that accompanied the Quit Smoking Patches I used to help me taper off my addiction to nicotine. Prior to this, for my 8 years of on again, off again sobriety, I had begun to think of myself as The Relapse King.
CUT TO THE CHASE: That little pamphlet, paraphrased here, said this "Don't think of yourself as a smoker who is trying to quit. Think of yourself as a former smoker."
BAM! I had a little epiphany of sorts. I shouldn't have thought of myself as The Relapse King. I should have thought of myself as a former drinker seeking long-term recovery. That tiny leaflet changed my perspective on quitting smoking (and drinking) from the get-go.
CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE and you will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
More than 8 years after I quit smoking, I was diagnosed with Cancer, an unintended and almost inevitable consequence of 42 years of smoking two or more packs of cigarettes a day.
Today, in Recovery, I am becoming Responsible for Whatever Else Hits the Fan from my long, dark and inglorious past.
4 years this March since my Cancer Diagnosis (As of today, I remain cancer-free).
13 years this week since my last cigarette.
After an earthquake, the aftershock tremors may go on indefinitely.
Today, I celebrate this breaking of the second chain of addiction.
I was a chain smoker. That chain has now been broken.
I have not let Cancer break me. I am responsible for my Cancer recovery.
My perspective has changed and will continue changing.
Life is good.
*****
This post is in neither of my books. But don't let that stop you.
#Enjoy my first book, the Autobiographical Fiction titled ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal. Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO
My NEW, Non-Fiction, BECOMING UNBROKEN: Reflections on Addiction and Recovery, is also on Amazon and may be found here: https://lnkd.in/dkF767RT
Both books are available in Print and Kindle editions.
7,200+ Recovery Tweets here: https://twitter.com/jimanders4
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
[This photo of a Bulgarian Salt Mine Smoker is from an unremembered source, but likely National Geographics]
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