Addiction Recovery: Changing Self-Talk

Self talk. Change your self-talk and change your life. This may sound too simple to work, but it is one of the ingredients in the recipe for successful addiction recovery. The goal with changing the self-talk is to break the well worn groves in your mind that hinder your recovery and replace them with positive messages.

Let's look at some bad self-talk. This is the stuff you should move away from. The big no no is this one: I need a drink. And here are a few others: I can't make it. It's not going to work. I'm no good. Bad self-talk does not go away by itself, it needs to be replaced with good self-talk. Simply stopping the bad self-talk will not work because the mind will always generate a conversation to fill the void. What are the steps we need to take to make the change.

The first step is to listen. Once you start listening, you'll notice that the same words are use and they keep repeating themselves over and over. A little bit of separation is required to listen, but once you get that, you can start writing down the messages. For a start, write down two messages. For me, the two messages were "it's too late," and "I'll never be able to make it." Once you start you will recognize yours very quickly.

The second part is to make a simple substitution going from negative to positive. "It's too late" becomes "it's never too late." "I'll never be able to make it" becomes "I can make it."

The third part, and the most important part, is to take notice of when the broken record begins to play. This usually when you are feeling anxious of worried. When you notice, you make the substitution and repeat your new message as many times as you need; in other words, until the old one goes away. And while we are here, let's replace the bad one at the beginning: I need to go for a walk. That is how I do it and that is why I recommend it.

This is a simple strategy that can have a big impact on your recovery. Give it a try and you will not be disappointed.