Can I overcome an addiction on my own?

There are some addictions that you can absolutely overcome on your own, and of course there are others that are going to need a higher level of care, which includes professional help and at the extreme end, of course, inpatient rehab. If you are going to kick an addiction on your own, so if you are drinking too much coffee, if you are eating too much cake, those are some examples of addiction that you can actually treat on your own. If you have failed one step, then it’s time to go to the next step. So if you’ve tried to kick something on your own and you can’t do it, well, then it’s time to go to the next level, which may be once a week outpatient therapy. And if that’s still not working for you, then maybe you need to add intensive outpatient. If that doesn’t work, then it’s time for rehab or obviously there’s some people who. These addictions are so bad that they need to go straight to rehab. But if you are going to tackle an addiction on your own with something like drinking 12 cups of coffee, one of the one of the things that really helps is to look at the role of a ritual. A lot of times, whether it’s smoking a joint or smoking a cigarette or having a cup of coffee, there’s something about that ritual. There’s something about wanting to have something warm, and there’s actually something quite lovely about the moment you take when the coffee is too hot because you’re paying attention. To your breath. And even when you’re smoking a cigarette, obviously there’s a lot of things that are very, very bad for you. But what’s good for you is that you’re taking a moment to slow down and you’re paying attention to your breath. So then you have to think about what are other rituals that I could actually replace those unhealthy behaviors with. So for example, if you’re a smoker #1 you want something to do with your hands. So in early stages, maybe you want to have toothpicks or or lollipops handy, or you maybe you want to have something to a little game on your iPhone, but then you also want to. Pay attention your breath. Pay attention to your breath through mindfulness meditation, for example. So I recommend 12 minutes a day of meditation where you just pay attention to your breathing. That actually slows the breath down in the same way that smoking a cigarette helps you to do. Isn’t it funny that most people go out and smoke a cigarette when they’re really stressed and it just gives them that moment, that sense of ritual? So find those rituals in your life. Use them. Don’t get rid of rituals, because rituals can be really healthy. Amazing behaviors and we need them as human beings in our life. And when you add those, it’s a lot easier to get rid of those.