There are numerous elaborate methods and strategies on how to overcome addictions offered by many different scholarly people. If you go to a bookstore you will see shelves of books covering this very topic. I have overcome two serious addictions in my life and I would like to share the 5 step plan that I used to kick the habit.
When I was a young boy I would often go to visit my grandmother, who lived nearby. She used to make the most luscious toll house cookies as well as several other sugary goodies. While sitting down playing games or just talking, my grandmother and grandfather would eat one or two cookies. I would eat four, or five, or six.
Later in life when my company would have their monthly all-hands-meetings donuts and rolls would be served. During the 30-45 minute meeting most people would eat one. I would eat two or three. I would come down with a cold, the flu, or a sinus infection just about every other month. Then it would take three to four weeks to get over the ailment. This pattern went on for years. I knew I had poor dietary habits. The worst of which was how much junk food and sugar I consumed. I knew it, but I was addicted to sugar.
A short while later in my life I started drinking coffee. I know that coffee is fine for many people and does not affect them negatively at all. I am not condemning the drink itself. Yet, for me coffee is a direct contributor to migraine headaches. I absolutely know it, but I had become so addicted to it that I was constantly able to dream up a justification for drinking one more cup. It was literally amazing the clever excuses I could come up with and make myself believe! I was severely addicted to coffee. I have been able to overcome both of these addictions. Please let me share with you the methods and strategies I used in overcoming these addictions and what I had to do to kick the habit.
1. Flood your mind with material on the negative points of the habit you are trying to eliminate. Read about it, study, talk to people. Drive it into your mind that what you are doing is wrong; it is bad, it hurting yourself plus the people you come into contact with. It is affecting your family life, your friendships and your career. It needs to be rooted out of your life.
2. Make notes to yourself; write articles about why this addiction needs to be eliminated. Even if you are the only one who reads them, write anyway. For some strange reason putting things down on paper (or PC) is a powerful force that can move a person far more than just thinking or talking. When you get an article completed, offer it to your spouse, children or friends. Have them read it over. Make corrections to your article. The better you make the article, the more you will be in touch with it and the stronger you will be. Then go ahead and submit it to one of the free article directories or a blog. You may very well get some comments that will help you become even stronger in your beliefs.
When I was feverishly struggling with my coffee addiction I would not drink much at home. I almost always drank at work. It was so pleasant when I first got to the office to get a cup of coffee before I even logged into my PC. Then, about 30 minutes later, to fill her up for a second, and maybe later in the day I would have a third. One simple thing that I did that helped enormously was this. I took a piece of paper and hand wrote on it in large print "DO YOU WANT A HEADACHE?" I tacked this piece of paper right beside my PC monitor so there was no way I would miss it. Knowing that coffee would eventually lead to migraines this served as a constant reminder if I brought a drink to my desk.
3. If at all possible, find a person who will strongly support you in you in your effort toward overcoming addictions. I had that support in my fight with the sugar addiction. When it came to the coffee addiction, I really did not have that support person to help me. Maybe that is why it took me so much longer and it was so much harder to overcome the coffee addiction.
4. Do it cold-turkey, all at once. Do not give in to the temptation to try the tapering off method. With my sugar addiction, I quit cold-turkey. I stopped all at once and there was no coming back. I am not going to say that I have never consciously had a small amount of sugar again over the twelve years since I have kicked the habit, but it has been extremely rare. So much so, that I can claim victory. With my coffee addiction, I tried tapering off several times. Each time was a disaster. It never worked. It constantly led me back to being a full time drinker. Finally one day, six months ago (give or take a day or two) I worked up the guts and the courage. I told myself that enough was enough, and have not even had a sip of coffee since then. There was some withdrawal, a violent migraine headache and some anxiety. Now that it's over, I am so glad I made the decision!
5. If you slip, don't allow yourself to get discouraged and give up. Go back to the first point. Fill your mind with the facts once again. Write another article, read over previous articles that you wrote, and quit once again.
These are the steps that I used in overcoming a sugar and coffee addiction. I know this may sound overly simplistic. After all it doesn't take up a 200 (plus) page book! Sometimes things are not as complicated as they seem. This strategy has worked for me. Twice I have been able to overcome addictions that were ruining my life. If you have an addiction that you know you should quit and have not, you may want to try this plan. It could work for you too.
Visit the Feeling Outstanding Nutritional Supplements page for an excellent selection of nutritional supplements and herbal remedies. Green tea or other herbal teas are excellent choices for drinks in place of coffee or soda!
Tom Thorne http://www.FeelingOutstanding.com
Krups Coffee Maker
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