How to Overcome Addictions

You can learn ways to cope with and overcome addictions. Here you’ll find resources, tips, books, and articles to help you with whatever personal demons you’re battling. Always remember: Never give up and never give in.

Sometimes an Author is Just the Friend You Need

by Joi

I hear from a number of wonderful readers of Out of Bounds who are dealing with (or have recently dealt with) an addiction of some kind.   A recent e-mail came from a man who had “licked” alcohol abuse thanks to a program in his community.  As common sense would dictate, the pull of the addiction didn’t just magically go away.  Like many people who leave alcohol or drugs behind, he found that each day was simply a new step…. a step away from where he didn’t want to be and a step toward a place he did want to be.

As I’ve said on this site and blog numerous times, I honestly can’t offer any valid information or advice when it comes to addictions.  The only things I’ve ever been addicted to have been chocolate, coffee, and neck rubs.

However, I do have an exceptional author who I can point people toward!  With strength, faith, and more courage than you can imagine, she has overcome the demons that still haunt many people.  The wonderful news is that she can help these people find the strength and faith inside themselves – along with the courage that you can’t yet imagine.

Her name is Deb Scott and her beautifully written book is The Sky is Green and the Grass is Blue: Turning your upside down world right side up!.

If you are, yourself, struggling with or overcoming an addiction, I completely recommend reading this book.  Either click the image, itself, or the link above to read more about the book.

Before doing so, you can click the following link to read my full review of the book on my self help blog, Self Help Daily:  Book Review The Sky is Green and the Grass is Blue by Deb Scott.

Make each moment count double!
~ Joi

Overcoming addiction can be difficult – Narconon drug rehab is here to help.

What’s Left of Us – A Memoir of Addiction by Richard Farrell

by Joi

What's Left of Us by Richard Farrell

Click the link below for an excerpt from what should be a wonderfully written memoir. It’s from the new book What’s Left of Us by Richard Farrell. The book will be available on Amazon June 30.

Personal accounts such as this make for the most informative, helpful, and touching reading. After all, the author has lived the life he or she is writing about. It doesn’t get any more passionate than that. Click through and enjoy the first chapter and watch for What’s Left of Us on Amazon in just a little over a week.

[click to continue…]

Marijuana is a Crutch For the Ridiculously Weak

by Joi

First of all, before I say anything else – I want you to know that I don’t look down on anyone.  I may have my share of faults, but one thing I can say about myself is that I do not judge others.  I was cut from “live your life and let others live theirs” material.  I do throw my opinions in people’s paths when they’re doing things that could hurt themselves or others, though.  It’s not from an angry, judgmental place, however.  I’m one of those people who truly just wants to help others.

Having said all of that… what are these women thinking?!?!?  Here’s the gist – mothers are smoking marijuana and justifying it as a means of relaxing and unwinding.  One even said she does it to keep from taking out her frustrations on her husband and children.   Are you kidding me?  So, if she doesn’t smoke illegal weed, her husband and children will have to pay for it?

Others claim that it’s how they unwind at the end of the day.  Have they never heard of….

  • Drinking a cup of hot tea
  • Reading a chapter from Dean Koontz’s latest book
  • Baking cookies (something that would actually benefit everyone else)
  • Watching tv
  • Taking a bubble bath
  • Working in a flower garden
  • Working a crossword puzzle
  • Petting a cat
  • Walking a dog
  • Walking without a dog
  • Keeping a journal
  • Watching birds
  • Going for a manicure
  • Shopping therapy
  • Having a latte at Starbucks
  • Photography
  • Solitaire
  • Bowling
  • Taking a nap
  • Going to a chick flick

Countless other women handle stress without turning to drugs – which, let’s be honest, is what marijuana is.  It’s not a therapy any more than getting drunk is.  It’s illegal and it’s a crutch.  An illegal crutch isn’t something anyone should be proud of and it certainly isn’t a legacy they should want to leave for their children.  They might as well wear a t-shirt that says “2 WEAK 2 COPE.”

No one needs anything like marijuana to cope with life.   What they need is more  guts, more backbone, and more respect… respect for themselves, their country and its laws, and their family.  One even acknowledged that being arrested was a risk she knew she was taking.   Wow, to love one’s family that much is totally amazing.  Can you say completely selfish???

I would challenge each of these women (and men, of course) to get rid of their crutch completely for a whole month.  Stand on your own two feet day in and day out.  Whether your crutch is alcohol or marijuana, you’ll never learn to stand on your own until you put it away.  I promise you, something amazing will happen in just a matter of days – you’ll find that you have more strength than you ever thought possible.  Then as you find your legs, something even more remarkable will happen, you’ll get stronger and stronger.

Soon, you’ll be looking at others with their crutches and wondering, “How can they be so weak?  I’m standing on my own!”  This new found strength will be something that no one can ever take from you and the legacy you leave to your children will be that of a very strong individual who didn’t need a crutch to stand.

In the words of Tim Gunn on Project Runway, “Make it work!”

Make each moment count double,
~ Joi

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