Can you get rid of cravings?

Good Morning! Here at DailyFix, you know what really grinds our gears? When people know all the tips and tricks for an incredible recovery journey but don't share them with the rest of the class. 

Here’s what's in store for you today:

• 🌎 Daily Motivation: Recognizing Greatness

• 🧐 Let's Learn: Will My Cravings Ever Go Away?

• 📚 Read A Good Book

• 😂 Meme of the Day

🌎 Daily Motivation: Recognizing Greatness

How can you recognize if you are healing?

🧐 Let's Learn: Will My Cravings Ever Go Away? 

Cravings are an unfortunate part of our life. And there are a ton of tips to help navigate the uncomfortable feelings that come with cravings. But even with these tips, you still may be left wondering…will they ever stop?

Here’s the 3-part truth of it… 

1. It's different for everybody. Here are 3 different scenarios:

• I celebrated 3 years of recovery last week & still get cravings weekly to monthly, depending on the situation.

• A dear friend with 7.5 years tells me it was 6 years into her recovery before a life-changing event happened & all cravings disappeared instantly.

• My sponsor, with 25 years of sobriety, still has to avoid certain areas of the supermarket due to cravings triggered by certain aisles.

2. You gotta do the work. This means you have to put in the time and effort to learn the tools that help you with cravings while they do exist. Because you can’t bank on them ever fully going away, and there’s no point in white-knuckling it in those moments, just hoping for it anyways. These tools can include finding a distraction, reaching out to your support system, exercising, changing your situation, communicating with your Higher Power, & even examining why you’re craving something to begin with (using tools like H.A.L.T. can help.) I’ve also been told if you can get through the first 5 minutes of a craving, it will dissipate more quickly than just stewing over it. 

3. The stars have to align. Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. But your situations all have to be in balance to produce a life void of cravings. You have to be spiritually, mentally, physically, & emotionally fit. No, that doesn’t mean it has to be all rainbows & butterflies; it just means you have to be living the best possible version of your life & it has to be a life that makes you unconditionally content. 

And the truth is the cravings may never completely disappear. Like stretch marks, they’re a part of the story that makes up who you are.  So it’s better to focus on learning the tools to power through those moments and utilize them appropriately when the time comes. It’s better to have the jack & the spare tire in the trunk vs. hoping you never get a flat in the first place. 

📚 Read A Good Book 📚

Reading can take you away to a new place or help you make sense of where you are now. When I have a chance to read, I like to refer to the reviews to help me pick a good book. Alison’s review of “We Are The Luckiest” gave me all the details I needed to add it to my list.

I found “We Are The Luckiest” to be a powerful book for someone who maybe isn't sure if recovery is the lifestyle they want to choose. Laura McKowen paints a picture of just how unmanageable her life was because of alcohol. I found it poignant when she described how what she deemed should have been her bottom was not. She had to become more emotionally bankrupt before she wanted to quit for good. 

I like how she broke different recovery topics and concepts up into different chapters. I think that makes it easier for someone to refer back to a particular topic of interest.

I wish that the author had gone into more detail about the steps she took to build a sober life. It seemed to me like she made it seem simple once she made the decision to commit to sobriety - "get a sponsor, work the steps." She alluded to the concept of embracing a Higher Power but never dove into how she came to understand one. 

My other issue with the book was what she didn't say about her feelings towards Alcoholics Anonymous. She said they were a group of kind people, but it sounded like they were kind people she no longer needed in her life. On the one hand, I respect that she didn't trash-talk an organization that threw water on the burning fire that was her life. On the other, if they were so wonderful, why did she sound like she was no longer affiliated? As a person with some sober time under my belt, the points left me with questions.

In summary, this book is a great read for a person struggling with whether sobriety is right for them. It’s a reminder of all the reasons my sober life is better than my drinking one. It felt heavy on the problem and struggling to get free from it, but a bit light on the solution.

😂 MEME OF THE DAY 😂