in this video we're going to talk about exactly how to deal with and manage cravings
now cravings can come on slowly over time and sometimes they come on intense and they
can seem like they come from out of nowhere but I'm going to give you my five fail-proof
strategies for getting through a craving without relapse I'm going to give you these in order and
it's really important that you do these in the order that I'm going to give them to you
for those of you who are new here welcome to put the shovel down this youtube channel is all about
helping you understand the science and psychology of addiction so that you can get your life and
your loved ones back on track and get back to living the life that you want to live okay here
we go here's your five strategies and remember it's important to do these in order number one
before you ever have the craving when you're in a good state of mind you need to put things in
place that would make it really really really difficult for you to have a relapse and usually
what this means is some kind of accountability this is like this safety net system that you're
gonna put in place so that you pretty much don't have the choice about whether or not to relapse
maybe you're getting regular drug and alcohol screened maybe you have an accountability partner
that's going to check in on you and ask you the hard questions maybe you're getting regularly
breathalyzed whatever it is that you need to do to put the accountability in place for you to make it
really hard to relapse that's one of the best things you can do to fight cravings because if
it's a non-option if you don't have the choice and you know that it's a non-option you don't spend
a whole lot of time in your head doing this will i won't I little argument thing in fact it makes
it real easy because even if the thought pops in there it's like well i really can't because i'm
not going to get away with it and in about five minutes i'm gonna be caught with that and then
it doesn't even last long so that's the number one very most important thing that you can do
to manage cravings number two thing that you can do is also about preventing them
don't put yourself in situations that are likely to trigger cravings yeah these are called high
risk situations keep yourself away from the people places and things now a really big newbie mistake
by newbie i mean newbie for recovery mistake that people make is they think well i'm just not
going to drink or use or do whatever addictive behavior again but i'm going to live my same
life as i used to live before well i got some bad news for you that's just not going to work
you're going to have to change a lot of things in your life in order to make sure that you don't go
back and use you can't keep going to the parties you can't keep hanging around the same old people
you can't keep thinking the same way that you used to think i tell my clients all the time if you're
used to coming home and you put on your basketball shorts and you turn on the ball game and you start
drinking then don't come home and turn on the ball game don't put on your basketball shorts
if you're used to listening to certain music when you use don't listen to that music
these are just the easy basic things that you can do to not get a craving started in the first place
remember change your habits change your routines don't put yourself around
the same people places and things now another newbie mistake that sometimes people make even
though it's well intentioned this is another big mistake is people will tell their friends
hey you know i'm trying to be sober don't use around me but if you're still hanging around the
same old friends that you know are using even if they don't use around you just being around them
is going to remind you of all your using memories and that's going to trigger you or you're going to
know that they have it in their pocket or you're going to know that they secretly wish they could
get out of standing they're talking to you because they want to be going to get high it's going to
trigger your i'm missing out feeling which is then going to trigger a craving so i'm telling
you at least for the first while don't do it step number three if you're having a craving the
very best thing that you can do is redirect your attention this is called the don't put gasoline on
it technique what a lot of people do when they have cravings is they start remembering when
and fantasizing back and scheming and planning and thinking about someone that they know that they
has it or can they get by with it and their loved one's not going to be home for the next few hours
and they start going in their head and really thinking about it and as you're doing that
you're throwing gasoline on it now most cravings only last between five and nine minutes if you
don't gasoline it if you gasoline it you can make a craving last for days and days and days
this is all about don't make it hard on yourself right do everything possible to set yourself up
for success and so don't fuel it you may not can control that first thought that jumps in your head
but you can control the second one don't let those thoughts keep coming now the fourth thing
that i want you to do if you're having a craving is i want you to call someone up and tell them
this is called telling on your addiction it's almost like if a bully is bothering you in the
school yard and you tell them and it makes the bully go away so call someone up tell them now
of course this is going to have to be someone that you don't think is going to freak out or go crazy
or get super upset or get really scared it's going to be someone that you can talk to and say man i
am really craving to want to use you know distract me tell me a funny joke get my mind off of it
tell me what i should do you need to have someone like that that you trust tell someone that you're
having a craving because not only does it help you to distract yourself but also create some
accountability if someone's ever telling me that they're really craving or they really want to use
i know right then that they're really trying hard not to otherwise they wouldn't be telling me about
it they'd be keeping it secret don't keep it secret remember addiction lives in darkness
turn the light on that craving and it will go away and then lastly this is your fifth thing
that you gotta do if nothing else has worked so far if that craving has gotten through all those
other four things then what i want you to do is wait it out now like i said most cravings don't
last that long if you don't fuel them so if you can keep in your mind that this feeling this urge
that you're having really isn't going to last that long it makes it feel way more survivable
sometimes we can get it in our head that it's going to feel like this forever it's going to
be horrible and hard forever and we just can't take it but that's not true it's probably only
going to last a few minutes so a good technique to use is just to tell yourself okay i'm not going
to promise myself i'm not going to use forever because sometimes that makes a craving even worse
but just tell yourself you know what i'm not going to use at least for the next two hours let
me wait it out or at least until after dinner or i'll reassess the situation tomorrow i call that
like the delaying technique because sometimes if you can delay it if you can put it off
by the time you get to that delayed point in time it goes away now if you do those first two
things that i told you you will have less cravings they'll come less frequently and they won't stay
as long so those first two things that i told you are really the very most important things the last
three are all about okay it's here now what do i do and like i said i want you to practice them
in that order that i told you now one of the best ways that you can prevent those cravings
from happening to begin with is to practice good recovery hygiene and i've made a list for you that
i call my seven daily habits of good recovery if you'll do these seven things just in your regular
day-to-day practice and they're not hard things they're simple things that'll keep you in the
good state of mind and keep you out of the craving state to begin with like i said that's definitely
plan a i'm going to put a link to it in the description below you can download
it it's 100 percent free you can get that right now and up next is my playlist on
relapse prevention this is the more advanced relapse prevention techniques for you right here