What are "Lights?" in recoveryBox?

So you are wondering what exactly are these lights?  That's the easy part...they are your daily activities broken into your greens (the activities/habits you want to build), the yellows (umm, these are people, places or things that are putting you at risk for acting out and you want to avoid them), and the reds (activities that are part of your addiction).

The goal of course is to have as many greens as possible.  By taking care of your green events on a daily basis you will see how you are starting to take care of yourself and your yellows and reds will start to lessen.

Next post, I'll explain how to use those greens to track activities.  recoveryBox is extremely flexible with your lights.  It allows you to basically give weight to the green lights for accountability to your sponsor or accountability partner.  But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...you'll have to wait until I
get to that blog post.

Can't wait, check out recoveryBox the site for more info.

Want to download from the Apple App store..thanks.  I'm available for questions anytime.

Yellow Light Y2 - Intentionally putting oneself at Place of Risk ~ Caution

Some might ask how can being "somewhere" be a Yellow Light?  I mean, it's just a "place" right?

Well, for some with an addiction, just being somewhere can be the trigger.  Even though a "place" doesn't speak to you to convince you to "act out", it can actually trigger the voice in your mind that tells you what to do.

Follow me on this.  For those who suffer from alcoholism, going to a bar for happy hour may not be the smartest of decisions or going to a friends party where you know there will be alcohol.  Because at this "place" you have access to the actual thing that you are trying to break away from.  Or for those suffering from a pornography addiction, perhaps going to Hooters will trigger the feeling inside that you so crave leading to "acting out".  What about those with a shopping addiction?  Should going to the mall be on your agenda?

Now these are not hard and in stone rules.  Of course not.  Each person must decide for themselves if being at a certain place is dangerous to the undoing of their sobriety.  However, sometimes we just don't know.  Or perhaps it is so early in the recovery process that we know these "places" are triggers.

So, I would think logic would say to STAY AWAY!  You have worked so hard to finally admit your problem and start the hard work of beating this addiction, why would you place yourself in harms way?

The reason it is considered a Y2 light, "Intentionally putting oneself at a Place of Risk" is so that you are accountable for putting yourself there.  Remember, Yellow Lights are not acting out lights..these are just the flags that say..Stop and Slow Down! Consider the Implications!  What could this lead to?

Because entering a yellow light requires adding an explanation of the situation it is helpful so that your accountability partner can see the situation.  It is also helpful to begin to see patterns.  When searching over a months time, see how many yellow lights you had.  Are they all on a certain day of the week?  Do they always occur when ...

Sometimes it really is obvious - at least most often for an outsider.  But not always.  And with data at your fingertips, you can't deny the actions of your life.

So PLEASE don't be afraid to report a yellow.  Be accountable to someone for it and perhaps come up with plans on how to change why the yellow even happened so it doesn't turn into a red light in the future.


Don't have recoveryBox yet?  Make the SMALL investment and begin to see your habits change.
To download, click here.  For more information, visit the recoveryBox app website (you can always download it from there if you decide).

Visually search our Lights for Habits in recoveryBox

How To Video Series for recoveryBox iOS App for Addiction Recovery

Below you will find our How To Videos for recoveryBox -visually searching our lights to reveal habits. Sometimes it's just not apparent to us why we act out and sometimes it's so obvious. Perhaps you are the visual type who needs to see what every Friday evening I'm either in the yellow or red zone and it doesn't make sense until you see it for yourself?  Or perhaps you are the type of person who likes to see how many lights you have earned in a day and to see if that number is growing?  Learn how to search using the calendar tool in recoveryBox.

Visually Searching our Lights to Reveal Habits

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Download recoveryBox Addiction Recovery App - Your Complete Accountability Sobriety Toolbox

What are recoveryBox "Lights" and how do they help me break my addiction?

Find out what the recoveryBox "Light" system is -- how it works -- recoveryBox.
It's easy to use and does work!  Change those bad habits into good habits!

Download recoveryBox today and be free from your addiction.

Part 3 : One to One Accountability and Your Sponsor

This is where the the entire concept for recoveryBox comes together. You have been diligent about entering your Lights and Triggers and now...

It's time to be honest with someone other than yourself.  And that's why you have a sponsor or accountability partner from a traditional 12 Step Program or from Celebrate Recovery.

When you send a text/email to your accountability partner, it will tally all of the Green, Yellow and Red lights.  You select the time frame (when I write more about the accountability module I'll explain how the dates default).

This is what's so awesome..there is no remembering what the day or week looked like because you already did the work when you entered the lights!!  And believe me it is work being honest to yourself.  

As you can see I use recoveryBox to text (as that's the default I set up) each day by 10:00PM.   It really is that simple and my sponsor can see  as a snapshot what my day looked like.  Let's see an example of what the system builds as a started text/email ( I can edit the piece of communication if I want before I send it too).

As you can see it puts the date (and in my case it's just the one date otherwise it's the range of dates I selected). Then it puts a total of my lights broken down by color...My sponsor and I have made a Green target number I'm supposed to hit and it changes as I meet my goals.

The Yellows and Red's are the hardest for me but it's where I'm being completely honest with myself and another.  Under the settings panel I've enabled comments to be added to my communication piece.  I have nothing to hide from my sponsor but it's nice to have the option (again, when I write more about that module, I'll show you how to enable those).

If I entered any triggers for the day, anything over a green level is included as well as my journaling.  I love being able to communicate to my sponsor without having to retype anything..yet I have it all recorded for me.  Sometimes my sponsor sees something that he is concerned about and will either call or text me back right away..but most times I just get a response saying "OK".  And that's all I need.

This part of recoveryBox is what really allows communication and knowledge to happen between my sponsor and myself.  BUT I do use this with my counselor too.  Sometimes I'm asked how the week was and it's so easy to pull up the information any way I want.  And I'm much more accurate because I can't say "I forgot".

Being successful in Addiction Recovery is about making changes.  With recoveryBox you can actually quantify the changes ~ and that's a good thing!

Use recoveryBox now for your Addiction Recovery.

Random Resource ThuRsday - So I shouldn't Go "There". Now What?

This week I wrote about how just being at a location is dangerous to the undoing of our sobriety. I found a wonderful resource that talks about this and a lot more.  In this document are tons on strategies to fight the addiction.  Take a look.

For more from this recovery website, visit http://www.markhoustonrecovery.com.

Below is the section from the resource that deals with Being at the Place (the Y2) and strategies.
I am glad the author put this trigger at the top of the list.  It's why I have the Person of Risk as the Y1 and the Place as the Y2 Yellow Lights.  Warning!!  Warning!!  Use Caution here!

Relapse Trigger #1: Putting Yourself In Difficult Situations Like Visiting Your Favorite Bar Or Hanging Out With Friends Who Are Still Using

Perhaps the most difficult part of recovery is leaving behind old friends or old habits that got us into trouble in the first place. Even if we are committed to staying away from your previous group of friends or hangouts, if we don’t change our habits and interests, we can quickly find yourself with a new group of friends or hangout spots that are just as damaging to our recovery process.
Relapse Prevention Action Plan:

• Find alternative places to hang out like a local bookstore or coffee shop.
  
• Choose companions who seek a healthy lifestyle.
  
• Go to a recovery based meeting. 
  

I really do encourage you to read the rest of the pdf file.  It is loaded with strategies to help in your addiction recovery.

To download recoveryBox,visit the Apple App Store.

Building My Personal Lights Comment (activities) List

Adding your lights and customizing activities for yourself is very easy.  And once you have added your Green Light Category activities, entry will be a snap which WILL raise your compliance during your addiction recovery treatment.

First, comments for Green Lights (which are the activities that you do daily) are really only there for your own accountability and record keeping.  In other words, your accountability partner is going to know how many green lights you are aiming to get a day but doesn't really need to know all of the details.  From day to day these are going to change as you start to take care of yourself more and more.  So to have them know that you took a shower may not be the most important detail but for you it just might be.

(However, yellow and red lights require comments and can't be selected from a list..so this will only apply to your Green Lights.  And your accountability does need to know the why for a yellow or red light.)

To add a comment (an activity) for a Green Light, just click on the Comment(s) field where the Stop Light is.  From there you will be brought to a screen where you can either type in your comment OR you can click the Select From Comments Button. 

Don't worry, just because you want to select from a list for quick data entry doesn't mean that you can't edit it afterwards.  You'll see.

The comment list that you build is based on which Green Light you selected on the initial screen.  In this case, we are working with the G1 Physical Self Care.  You will only see the associated comments (again think activities) which makes it easier so that you are not searching through a long list. 

Now, you may select just one activity if you are the type of user who is entering Green Lights one by one during the day as they occur.  OR, if you are the type of person who wants to do all entry of lights at once then you can select more than one from the list. 

Don't see what you are looking for??  Want to add another more personal activity?  

No problem. Just select Create Personal Comment for Category. 

OK, add what you would like.  Let's say you want to track that you shower each day.  OK.  Add that.  You only have to add it once and it's in your list forever (or until you decide to delete it!  to delete from the list just swipe like all other Apple apps).

OK, select the new activity that you just created and hit done.

Well, since comments are like a personal journal, it would be a shame to have written thoughts and then get them overwritten. The system will prompt your to either Replace your existing comments with the newly selected activities or to Append it to the end of what you already wrote.  

For kicks and giggles select Replace.

OK, you have the ability to change what the comments look like here.  Remember selecting from the list is just for quick data entry but it needs to be personal to you so feel free to edit if you so desire. Now hit save.

And there they are ready to go.  Since I wanted to add all 3 of my G1's at one time I select 3 from the spinner so I get credit for 3 Green G1 lights.  If you want to edit your comments before you Generate Lights , just click the Comment(s) field again and it will allow you to edit them as you please.

Not everyone is going to want to document green lights to such a degree but it's there if you want to.

The idea behind this is to have a number of Green Lights that you are shooting for each day and let your accountability partner know that number.  When you text/email your Lights they will be able to see how many you had for the day.  Change your goal higher and higher as you progress in your treatment and you will start to see how your life style begins to reflect that of someone taking care of yourself.  Your habits will change.

Don't have recoveryBox yet and want to the latest mobile app for addiction recovery, then visit the iPhone Apple app store.

For more information about recoveryBox and all the features, then visit recoveryBox's website.Personal Lights Comments (activities) List.

Visually Searching recoveryBox ~ Discovering our Habits

The power of recoveryBox, the addiction recovery toolset, is being able to understand our habits. If we are being diligent about what we are doing and being accountable, it will become obvious that are making progress by seeing your yellow/red lights diminish while the number of green lights (which are new healthy habits) continue to grow.

By looking at our new visual chart it's easy to see - wait, yellow lights always occur on Friday nights but only on weeks where (and you fill in the blank); or I see I'm not really tracking my lights on Wednesdays I see.

While it might sound obvious that we should know this already, it's often not. Those living in recovery for an addiction are usually living day by day and often hour by hour. So being able to see what's going on visually is an important part of the recovery process.

Are you ready to try recoveryBox?

Here is what one reviewer wrote recently when recoveryBox 5.0 came out.

Better and Better 

     

by Hunnybajjer

I appreciate that there is constant improvement on an already powerful and helpful app. You are always responding to feedback and making things better. Thanks for s great app.

We are listening and welcome all feedback. We want to make sure recoveryBox is not just another app - but an important tool as part of your recovery journey to living a life of freedom. Download it today!

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Download recoveryBox Addiction Recovery App - Your Complete Accountability Sobriety Toolbox

Entering Yesterday's Lights..Here's a Hint..updated for iOS7

So you skipped a day entering your lights, but you decided to go back and enter them because it affects your weekly numbers.  BUUUTTTT..you find that each time you have to reset the Date Spinner or Category Spinner........

Nope...you don't!  Here's a hint.

Go to More Tools -> Preferences

There are 3 VERY important settings that you can enable to help make this faster.

1.  Retain Date: this will keep the date of the LAST light your entered.  It's great for entering historical "lights".

2. Retain Category: if you are a person who likes to enter each entry separately for a Category, then enabling this to on will help you out also when entering historical "lights". No more resetting of the category. It will keep the spinner set to the last Category entered.

3. Retain Number of Lights: this is not as important but maybe you are entering an entire week's worth of "lights" and you are entering them by day and category and you know you had the same number for each day.  This is what will keep that number spinner on the last previous entered number.


These preferences are only there to help you stay compliant by allowing "entering of your daily lights" to be as flexible as possible.  So go ahead and quickly enter past lights to create the complete picture.  It's easy and fast.

Don't have recoveryBox the iPhone app for addiction recovery, check out www.recoveryboxapp.com

Group Accountability ~ Crucial to Addiction Recovery and Why It's a Green Light

Group Accountability is crucial to addiction recovery. Many posts on this blog have been about one-to-one accountability, but (and I know this is hard) it's so important to attend some sort of Group Accountability meeting.

It can be a traditional 12 Step Meeting, it can be a group therapy session, or a Celebrate Recovery meeting.  Whatever that looks like for you...but it's so important.  

It counts as a G2 - Group Accountability Light.

I mentioned that it's important to find a group that deals with similar addictions.  I will say personally I would not relate to someone who had a drug addiction while I was dealing with CoDependency.  I know from experience that Celebrate Recovery starts with everyone combined to have a worship time and then breaks apart into separate groups and most often by gender.  Others like AA meetings combine everyone together men and women. You are the only one who can decide what feels right but there IS a group that can help you out.

At most meetings you don't have to say a single word until you are ready. But as the time goes along, the reason you attend is to be able to open up, have others understand your experiences, and offer support. Not all meetings are alike - don't give up finding the right one!

Your support system ought to include others who have walked the path that you are going through.



Use recoveryBox with your group to share how your life is turning around and the Green Lights are improving (showing growth in healthy areas).  Share your yellow or red lights when ready.  There is no need to have to rethink everything since you already recorded it. Use that to reflect back at a later date and learn from those mistakes.  Then move on!

Click here to download recoveryBox from the iPhone store.

Acting Out - Yes the Red Lights

UPDATE: please know that you can create your own red lights to really tailor recoveryBox to your needs.  Be supported!!

First, I must say I hope that you never have to record a Red Light because it does mean that you have broken your sobriety.  BUT, please don't be overly hard on yourself.  If you do indeed need to record one then do so and move on.  We all make mistakes but the difference is if we learn from them.

How Red Lights work in recoveryBox.

1. Each addiction will have a different Set of Red Lights.  They are specific to your addiction.  Until this point, all Green Lights and Yellow Lights have been the same for all addictions.  recoveryBox wants to make this specific for your addiction.
2. Record a reason why you acted out.
3. Consider entering any triggers that you can think of that might help understand why you acted out.  Even if you just can't make sense of it, enter the triggers anyway.
4. Send the text/email to your accountability partner.  Please don't skip this just because you have entered a red light.  This is the most critical time that you need to honest.  It might leave you feeling vulnerable but you are not alone.  This is where you are going to get the support you need through a sponsor or accountability partner.
5. recoveryBox WILL automatically adjust your sobriety date (if you are using that module) based on the red light that you enter.  You don't need to worry about entering it in 2 different places.  

Please don't feel ashamed and wallow in a relapse.  Know it happens, pick yourself up and learn from the mistake.  It's what you do with it that counts.

Below you will see different Red Light scenarios based on 3 different addiction types.  

Alcohol Addiction

Pornography Addiction

Eating Disorder Addiction

There are over 50 addictions to choose from in recoveryBox AND you can even choose multiple addictions at the same time if you need to.

Want to try out recoveryBox,

the iPhone app for addiction recovery, 

download it today.

Bridget and Julie talk about the Yellow Light

Bridget talks to Julie at the movies about her yellow light. Each day Bridget has been using recoveryBox the app for addiction recovery to track her daily activities, called "Lights". She had a yellow for the first time. A yellow light meaning she was in a situation that could lead to relapse. See what happens between Bridget and her sponsor about the yellow light.
www.recoveryboxapp.com

recoveryBox 3.1 is released

Thanks for the users who asked for help, we heard you and responded!

New to this release, the ability to add comments for the Green Lights as part of your accountability messages. Some of you mentioned wanting to have green lights comments as part of the communication piece so that your sponsors better understand your daily habits.  

Please note: this new setting is not on by default. If you want that added feature, please turn it on under the Settings. Also, we kept this setting separate from the Yellow/Red Light comments. We know that not everyone will want this option turned on.

Also new to this release, is the Light Category headings for the text/emails communications to sponsors or accountability partners.

And one last addiction is a new algorithm to speed up creating the email/text accountability message. I noticed I could make it go a bit faster and so I made that change.

~ Be Engaged
~ Be Accountable
~ Be Rewarded
~ Be Supported

Download recoveryBox App Today and Begin your Recovery Journey
Addiction Recovery iPhone App

Break Down of a G2 - Emotional Self-Care Green Lights for Accountability

recoveryBox the mobile iPhone app for addiction recovery uses a system called your "Lights" just like a traffic light.  Green Lights are your good lights meaning go!.  Yellow lights aren't necessarily bad activities but they are the ones that can lead you into some sort of temptation either by being with a person, being at a place or possessing an item that could lead to relapse.  And Red lights do mean an instance of relapse.

If you remember, G1 Green Lights focus on Physical Self-Care during addiction recovery.  These are the healthy daily activities that you do to actually take care of your physical body.  I wrote about how you need to take care of those physical needs first in order to even have a chance of thinking straight and making good choices.

Today I want to focus moving past the physical self care into activities that start to become a little more challenging for us to do.  It's the G2 category of the Green Lights.  G2 lights are the second tier of green lights and  focus on the emotional and treatment activities.  These are the activities that we do to start building connection and make us vulnerable.

Today's green light is G2 - Emotional Self Care.

Emotional self-care is a huge part of recovery.  Most addicts will tell you that they can't even name the emotions they feel even if they are letting themselves have that feeling.  This is where a G2 light comes in.  These are activities for treatment that deal with identifying/acting/dealing with emotions and how that relates to our self-care.

There are tons of resources out there for dealing with emotions so I'm not going to actually go into counseling..as I am not qualified to do that.  But as you work out emotional self-care in your treatment for your addiction recovery, this is where you would add a light for that.

Some example include journaling, reading, spending time with others.  Perhaps for you it's as basic as even identifying your emotions each day or being vulnerable with someone and telling them how you feel.  Those are activities that indicate you are taking care of yourself.

Now these emotions might not always be pretty or even easy to identify but I can speak from experience and say that it is freeing to finally be able to label even the ugly emotions.  For me, I do count identifying an emotion as a G2 because during my journey I needed to identify what those emotions were and to expand my vocabulary.

Perhaps you can easily identify the emotion you are feeling (great job..you are ahead of most addicts in that case) but you need to deal with the emotion in a healthy way.  So perhaps your G2 Emotional Self-Care is more advanced and needs to deal with reacting properly to the emotion.

Or perhaps you just don't allow yourself the time to connect with others or yourself.  Go to coffee with friends and just have a conversation..and it doesn't have to be heavy hearted either.  Read that book you have been wanting to but putting off.  Allow time to take care of yourself from a mental perspective.  These are all G2 Emotional Self-Care activities.

Work with your counselor and accountability partner/sponsor to build a list of activities that you need to work on for G2 - Emotional Self-Care.  I believe that this Green Light is such an important part of addiction recovery.  Identifying emotions and taking care of one-self emotionally is very tiring but it's also healthy.  Once we begin to do this as part of our lifestyle, the heaviness begins to fade and it become part of who we are..and that's a good thing.

Don't have recoveryBox yet?  Download it from the app store now and begin your journey to freedom.

Connect with others on Facebook and "Like" the app page.  Feel free to tell others about how recoveryBox app is part of your journey for your addiction recovery.  And don't forget to count that as a G2 - Emotional Self-Care activity too!

What makes up a "Green Light"??

Since recoveryBox iPhone addiction recovery app is build for the purpose of being accountable to yourself and to others, it would help to understand well what does it mean to be accountable?  I mean what does accountability really mean?

Not getting too fancy, I'll say that being accountable means taking responsibility for your actions.

For starters, there are all levels of being accountable to both yourself and to your sponsor/partner.

Today I'm just going to talk about what a G1 Lights are.  It's called "Physical Self-Care" but what that looks like for everyone is different.  The premise behind Physical Self-Care is simple..you MUST first take care of yourself physically before you can even think about the "next stuff".

And these taking care of yourself activities are good things..hence why they are green..meaning go go go and go some more. See, it's really simple, green lights are good.  You want to fill your day with lots of green lights all day long and as many as you can get.

Think about it, ever notice how when we are sleep deprived or hungry our judgement goes out the door.  I am not going to even pretend to be a medical doctor and tell you all about it..I don't think I need to.  I think you already know what I'm talking about because your yourself have experienced it.  Right?!?  I have.

So each day we need to be responsible for taking care of ourself physically by doing certain activities. And yes these basic activities make up our G1 Green Lights.  Yes the app does have some pre-canned examples that you can use right out of the box such as eating meals, sleeping, exercising, etc.  BUT, you can customize that list by adding what is important to you. Perhaps taking a shower needs to be on your list?  Or putting on makeup?  Dunno...because  only you can decide with the help of your counselor.  (want a hint?? to access the list hit the comments field...it will allow you to select from a list)

So start thinking about what should your G1's look like!  Make a list and work with those who are keeping you accountable and see if they make sense.

Next post is going to be about how to actually enter those comments to begin building your list for each Green category.  Then I'm thinking we will touch upon how flexible the app is for entering your lights...stay tuned for lots more to come.

Feel free to download recoveryBox iPhone addiction recovery app from the iTunes store.

the Badge Center

Did you know that you can go and view all the badges you have earned during your recovery from your addiction? Yes it is true, recoveryBox is created so that you don't have to use the entire app.  Perhaps you only want to track your sobriety date..well then just track that.  Or maybe you want to track only your triggers and nothing else - then go ahead and do that. But you will earn badges for all of your hard work.

I was reminded of the importance of tracking "Lights" when I went to test the app on a fresh device and the list came up empty. The message really hit home "Recovery is about replacing bad habits with good ones.  Tracking your Lights will help your accountability as well as help you see patterns in behaviors!"

Well, that about sums it up..nice to get a reminder..huh!

Oh yeah..if you want to see all the badges you have earned then go to More Tools -> Badge Center.  And be prepared to be amazed at how well you are doing!

recoveryBox, the iPhone mobile app for Addiction Recovery

www.recoveryboxapp.com

Spiritual Self-Care Part of Addiction Recovery

Spiritual Self-Care is one of those sticky subjects when it comes to Addiction Recovery.  However, for myself and the friend who recoveryBox was originally built, neither of us would be where we are today without our Spiritual lives.

In the app, Spiritual Self-Care is a G3.  It's the third "level" of the green lights. And the reason that it's the last green light is because you have to take care of yourself physically before you can even have anything left in you to cope with the next level - emotions.  And you have to work on emotions before you can even begin to think deeper about Spirituality.

Yes, these 3 levels of green lights WILL occur concurrently, however you will see a shift.  In the beginning when you are just starting to tackle your addiction, you will notice that you have a few G1's and not many G2's and maybe only one G3 (a quick prayer that goes like this "Oh God, please help me today").

But as time goes on you will notice that when you are really working hard at your recovery that your G3 numbers will increase.

Let's just start with the "how does it work with the app recoveryBox". Select the G3 Spiritual Self-Care from the list.

Next, you will see how it populates the screen.  When you want to record your spiritual self-care activities, select the comments field (where the stop sign is).

Then when you choose "Select From List", it will bring up the self-care items for this light that have been provided.  Remember, you can add whatever makes this work for you. recoveryBox just provides some ideas to get you thinking.  Remember, if you do devotions, twice a day then remember to record it as two G3 Spiritual Self-Care lights. Give yourself credit for all the healthy habit activities that you do each day.

This is just the how to record it in recoveryBox, later this week come back to see the why during the Random Resource ThuRsday post.

Thinking about using recoveryBox?  Check it out here.

Ready to download recoveryBox the iPhone app for Addiction Recovery, then Download it here.

Y3 Yellow Light :: Intentionally Possess Object of Risk

Having an object that is contrary to staying sober seems to be an obvious yellow.  Some would argue a Red Light, But I say it's just  a Yellow.

Just because you possess the item doesn't mean that you are going to use the item! It's a choice! And because it's a choice, it's why I have it as a Yellow Light!!

Y3 : Intentionally Possess and Item of Risk.

But let's be clear here.  It's a recipe for disaster.  I mean why do you even have it?  You know that by using the item or looking at it then you will be having to start your sobriety from square one, feel ashamed besides other emotions and all that goes along with using again.

So, it's a no brainer.  Get rid of it!

• Get rid of the alcohol in your house!
• Get rid of that pornographic video in the attic!
• Drugs lingering around the house? Trash them now!

Clean out!

And yes we live in a fallen world and there are temptations everywhere, but (and I feel like a cliche when I write this), but Just Say No!

Don't make it possible so that when the urge is there and you need that rush to easily grab that magazine or drink and fulfill that need.  Fill that need with something else - go for a walk. For visit a friend. Do something other than grab that item.

Yes, I understand that "things" don't do bad things.  It's when people use those things.  But why have the temptation? Why allow a trigger cause you to run to the very vice you are trying to cut off.

I really don't have much to say on this topic except GET RID OF IT ALL!

I completely understand that this doesn't apply to all addictions.  I mean you can't get rid of food.  But you can get rid of junk food. And you can't get of the internet (OK I couldn't) but you can use something like opendns.com or Covenant Eyes.  There are always things you can do to help yourself.  It's about making a choice.

Have a great day!  Now go clean out!


PS. If you need help cleaning out but just can't seem to get started - perhaps it's time to talk with your counselor or accountability partner on what is making it so hard to let go.


Wanting to download recoveryBox and see how it can help you?  Visit the Apple App store.

Caution :: Yellow Light :: Y1 - Person of Risk

Today's post goes along with last Thursday about having to give up all our "friends" from before addiction recovery.  As the author wrote, the new life of recovery and the old friends turn out to be "like oil and water they just don't mix".

There is a way in recoveryBox to track that.  It's the Y1 Caution Light.  It's "Intentionally Put Self With Person of Risk".

There is something to note here..it's the word intentionally.  There are times in life when we bump into people from our life before addiction recovery and it's a coincidence (but ever notice that it's "awkward"?!?).

This is the situation where you purposely hung out with a person who was trouble.  Their ways are just not appropriate things that you would be doing to change your habits.  You know what I'm talking about.

You get the nervous feeling inside, your mind starts to ask questions of yourself about this person or the situation like 'should i be with her?' or 'what do i say is she asks to go party and get high.how do I get out of that?'.

Take this as a warning light!!  Oil and water don't mix!  Even if you did happen to be with such a person on purpose don't be afraid to record it in recoveryBox.  Your sponsor or accountability partner will want to know.  And because they have lived your life, they will not be upset.  This will give you the opportunity to see how your triggers and situations all came together so that you don't intentionally put yourself in that position again.  Recording it will allow the conversation to flow between you and your sponsor because it's all down in the app for both of you to see.

Be proud of yourself that you did not relapse.  Just like as with driving, it's just a warning that you could get yourself into trouble.  Just learn from it!

Download recoveryBox to get started on your road to Addiction Recovery.