Addiction Recovery Motivator Compliance ~ Do I Really Have to??

Being compliant in addiction recovery is NOT an easy task nor is it one that you can just do one day but not the next.  You MUST work at addiction recovery each and every day!!!  Bottom line!!!

As I've said before I'm not a counselor but rather someone who has been through the process of what addiction recovery looks like.  And being accountable each and EVERY day to a sponsor or accountability partner is a must. And it's the same for a traditional 12 Step Program or for Celebrate Recovery.

recoveryBox , the mobile iPhone app built for addiction recovery, has some built in tools that can help you with that if you need some reminding.  And let's face it...in our lives we are so busy that things slip our mind - easily.  And for that, we have what are called MOTIVATORS!

If you click on More Tools in the tab bar on the bottom, you will see a whole list of tools.  Select "Settings" and voila..all sorts of things you can customize!!  I invite you to investigate how these can simplify data entry (again for compliance).

What is a motivator?? It's a reminder that will pop up when you tell it too!  Set one for entering your "lights" for the day or set one to remind yourself to text/email an accountability partner.

You can change the motivator at any point.  You can even turn it off if you don't need one anymore.   Work it out with your 12 step sponsor or accountability partner.  Decide together if you are to text your numbers daily or weekly.  Again, it's all about creating a system that you will be compliant with and that will help during your recovery.

~ Have you set your motivators today??

PS.  Just a small side note, if you set a motivator to text/email on a daily basis then the Accountability Module dates will be set for daily use, but if you select weekly in the motivators tab, then those dates will reflect a one week difference.  Just a small nice thing to help you be consistent.

Haven't downloaded recovery box yet?? 

Get it today and begin your addiction recovery today!!  

G2 ~ Treatment Self-Care recoveryBox iPhone Mobile Addiction Recovery App

Being in treatment for addiction recovery, one would think that a G2 - Treatment Self-Care should have been on the top of the list for Daily Lights activities.  The reason it's not is because as I wrote about before, you really need to take care of yourself physically which is why Treatment Self-Care falls into the next category of Green Lights.

G2 Treatment Self-Care lights are activities that we do as an individual as part of our treatment.  Each person will have some basic activities that will look the same but then it will be different due to the reasons that we have an addiction.  

Of course self-care such as counseling is of the upmost importance.  You can't get better from an addiction without knowing the why behind why you act out!  And for myself (and just about everyone else that I've talked too in recovery) will have a counselor and most often he/she will assign homework.  Homework can be from reading something, thinking and journaling, workbooks, creating inventories, asking for forgiveness from someone, offering forgiveness, etc.  In fact, following a traditional 12 Step Program or Celebrate Recovery step is part of treatment self-care.

For others it can be taking medications as part of treatment for a variety of things such as anxiety or depression.  For myself, I can count taking meds as one G2- Treatment Self-Care but there are others who must take them 3 or 4 times a day and in order to be compliant they can count that as 3 or 4 G2 Treatment Self-Care lights.

recoveryBox was built so that you can customize these lights.  You don't have to add comments for any green lights but here is where for some it's vital to keep track of what a day looks like.  When you select the button to add your comments you will see a few already suggested for you BUT please make this list work for you.  Add what you need as part of your treatment self-care.

Later, you will see how you can add a Goal for Treatment Self-Care..make sure anytime you interact with a goal that you add a Green Light for that.  Boost up your confidence by realizing all the wonderful progress you are making in your addiction recovery.

Beginning to see how recoveryBox and the visual of Lights makes it easy to see the Go Go Go aspect of doing positive things for addiction recovery.

Wondering if recoveryBox is right for you?  Download it today from the Apple store and give it a whirl.

Wondering what addictions this will work for?  When you download recoveryBox you will first be prompted to choose one (or more) addictions from the list. There are over 50 to choose from..

~ Adrenaline-Producing Activities ~ Alcohol ~ Anger~ Being Right ~ Caffeine ~ Cocaine ~ CoDependency ~ Collecting "stuff" ~ Cumpulsive Behavior ~ Drug Abuse ~ Eating Disorder ~ Emotional Addiction ~ Escapism/Amusement ~ Exercise ~ Fantasizing ~ Gambling ~ Getting One's Own Way ~ Heroin ~ Hoarding ~ Idolization ~ Isolation ~ Laziness ~ Lust ~ Marijuana ~ Media (TV, Internet, etc) ~ Methadone ~ Opiates ~ OverWorking ~ People Pleasing ~ Perfectionism ~ Pornography ~ Prescription Drugs ~ Risky Behaviors ~ Sadism ~ Self Injurous ~ Self-Judgement ~ Sex Addiction ~ Shopping ~ Smoking ~ Sniffing ~ Social Media ~ Steroids ~ Substance Abuse ~ Theft ~ Tobacco ~ Travel ~ Trivia ~ Vandalism ~ Vicodin (pain killers) ~ Video Games ~ Voyeurism

Part 1: One-to-One Accountability and Green Lights

This blog post is going to be broken up into 3 different ones.

1.  Adding my Green Lights for Accountability.
2.  Adding Triggers for Accountability
3.  MOST IMPORTANT:: Being Accountable To My Sponsor or Accountability Partner

recoveryBox was built for those who are in recovery for some sort of addiction with some sort of accountability feature.  

When we go through some sort of treatment it's so important that we are honest with ourselves but also someone else..most likely someone who has been there done that.  Usually we choose someone (but not always) who has been there so they understand the pressures we feel and can offer encouragement during those times.

By adding your Lights and Texting/Emailing to a sponsor or accountability partner you are taking ownership of your addiction and telling yourself that you are on the journey to recovery.  It's crucial that we do this!!

Adding G2 One-to-One Accountability Lights are Easy!!

When you Text/Email your Lights to a Sponsor each day that is checking in. That is letting the see a quick snapshot of your day without you have to rehash or even rethink the day. So that's a G2 One-to-One Accountability Green Light I get to add!

I tend to check in with him in the AM with a text to say Good Morning but at night after my day is done I send a text of my Lights.  It's a system we created with the use of recoveryBox during a one on one meeting.  

I'm supposed to send my lights by 10:00 PM.  

It's that easy.  Check in and get credit and Being Accountable all in one easy step.

In the next segments, I'll show how adding triggers completes the picture for accountability and what to do with these lights..in other words using the accountability feature.

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Download recoveryBox Addiction Recovery App - Your Complete Accountability Sobriety Toolbox

3 R's ~ Staying Motivated or Risk A Relapse

Random Resource ThuRsday!! 

3 R's ~ Staying Motivated or Risk A Relapse

I know from experience how easy it is to start down the road to recovery feeling the high of finally being free from a horrible secret and thinking I've got this licked!!  And then wham!!!  Something in life hits us and we run back to old habits, acting out and then going into relapse. 

And from there it is such a downward spiral.  Does anyone else know what I'm talking about here?!?

But that's why programs like a 12 Step Program or Celebrate Recovery have accountability partners as part of the approach.  Most of us just can't do this alone!  And we need someone to help us, encourage us, support us and motivate us.

This week I blogged about the Motivator piece of the recoveryBox iPhone Addiction Recovery App.  There is a good reason that is part of the app..it's to help us stay motivated.  Part of us as a person wants to please people other people.  It's part of being connected in life.  So when using a tool such as recoveryBox, it's important to stay motivated for compliance...because that IS one of the biggest pieces to addiction recovery.  You can't "cheat" here and there.  True recovery is to not return to those habits.

While doing research for recoveryBox, I ran across this article about motivation and it helped me focus on how can recoveryBox app can be part of that motivation.  Thanks Peggy for authoring such a great piece and for really just putting it out there in honest terms. 

(look for another blog post in a few weeks about another feature to recoveryBox that is all about motivation.  It's my favorite piece too!)


Addiction Recovery

Maintain Your Recovery Motivation Or You Will Relapse By Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D.

People often find their way to recovery in the midst of a crisis. Someone standing at the crossroads of recovery, may have been arrested for DUI, may have been fired, or may have received a scary report from the doctor. He may have heard the bottom line demand from his spouse-- "Get help or we are getting a divorce." Or, the alcoholic/addict may in fact, have a moment of clarity and really be able to see that he does have a problem and that help and abstinence are called for. The alcoholic/addict feels afraid. He feels ashamed. He feels angry at others or at himself for being in this position in the first place.

Fear, coercion or crisis helps him find his way into recovery. Fear is a fairly good short term motivator, but not so good in the long run. Once the fear subsides and the crisis is over, it is very easy to lose your motivation and momentum. At the point where the cycle of addiction is interrupted by failing to take the next drink, dose, or joint, there is a lot of tension, anxiety, and mindfulness of where you are in the process. Detox or withdrawal may occur, with physical and/or emotional symptoms being very consciously experienced.

When you get to feeling better physically and emotionally after detoxing, it is easy to lose your momentum. Your focus on recovery can dissolve. Some of the problems that once motivated your recovery might be resolved now. Because you have quit drinking or using, your spouse and kids are once again speaking to you and are in the process of forgiving you. You may have even won back some trust. Everything seems to be going well.

Under these circumstances it is quite easy for you to take your eyes off the target and lose your focus on recovery. Erroneously, you may believe that your abstinence is not so fragile now. Feeling better, you may think you have it "whipped".

Without actively focusing on your continuing abstinence and recovery, your behavior can begin to drift away from the newly instituted behavioral changes that you have made. You run the risk of returning to old thinking, old feelings, and then ultimately old behavior. The reason why this would happen is that you are not consciously taking steps to continue on a path of recovery. This path involves many changes in your behavior and in your life style. Without making conscious choices in regard to how each decision affects your new recovery life or your old addiction life, you are unconsciously choosing your old life. Choosing recovery is not like jump starting your damaged car battery where once you get it started, it recharges itself as run it. You have to continuously work a program of recovery. Without doing so, your efforts will be short- lived.

You will quit going to counseling. You will quit going to meetings. You will have stopped calling your recovery support people. Your defenses will go back up and you may take exception to the feedback of significant others who tell you that you are acting like you used to before recovery.

You won't be able to see that you are on the road to relapse. You won't be able to understand why they are concerned. You won't be able to identify the behavioral changes that scare them because you will be back in denial. Being around old drinking/using environments and friends don't scare you. You can't understand why it would scare your significant others. After all, you told them that you are not going to relapse. You have learned your lesson. What more do they want?

After awhile, you will begin to think that you have your drinking or using under control now. When you think of addiction as a thing of the past, that you now have it under control, you will begin to entertain the notion that you can now drink or use without negative consequences. If any of this sounds like your recent experience, you are in big trouble. You are in the relapse process and unless you do something now, you will relapse--and soon.

Copyright 2009, Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D., http://www.peggyferguson.com Hubbard House Publishing, Stillwater, OK. 

Download recoveryBox, Addiction Recovery App - Your Complete Sobriety Toolbox

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.

Random Resource ThuRsday ~ Support Systems

Last post, we talked about the upcoming features being added into recoveryBox.  The Twitter and Facebook integration.  The premise being it's an extension of your support system if you so desire.

Today is Random Resource ThuRsday and I'd like to continue with the concept of Support Systems.

I ran across a post just about this idea and how it's more than an accountability partner by David Sack MD. Here is the blog post link for the entire article or read below for bits and pieces.

Dr. Sack refers to a piece of addiction treatment that is tried and true - the Support System.
This is where one tried and true component of addiction treatment – a strong social support system – can bolster long-term recovery. A social network can keep recovering addicts invested in their recovery program even if they lose motivation, get discouraged, or become complacent or over-confident.

Research suggests that social relationships provide emotional support, a sense of belonging and stress relief. While higher levels of social connection improve quality of life, lower levels have been linked to relapse.

Here are five steps that will lead the recovering addict to the support they need:

1. Ask for Help - it's NOT a sign of weakness he writes.  And I can attest to that.  Talk to a good friend, find a counselor, pray with a spiritual leader, involve the family (but make sure they are not CoDependent)

2. Choose wisely - this should go without saying BUT when we are in a state of despair, it's hard to figure out just who you can trust, or who really is stable enough to ask into our support system. There are always clues but if you are not sure ask for help in making that determination.

3.  Attend some sort of meeting - this is critical. It can be a traditional 12 Step meeting, it could be a group therapy meeting, Celebrate Recovery or combine them.  He suggests finding one with like addictions because of being able to relate to each other.  Having been through that I agree completely.

4. Remain focused - it's so easy to start feeling good and want to return to "normal life", but the reality is, recovery takes time and so be selective about the types of activities you return to.

5. Be patient - and goodness knows this one takes practice.  It's hard to open up because of leaving yourself vulnerable. You have to process everything you say and do on a daily basis.  Becoming engaged in social settings is not easy so don't be too hard on yourself.  Remember, there may have been bridges burned as well and repair work will take time.  I believe the more patient you are about recovery the better chance of you becoming recovered!

recoveryBox, the mobile iPhone app for addiction recovery can be a huge part of your support system. Use it with your sponsor/accountability partner, counselor, and soon social friends.  Keep yourself accountable to others and yourself.

If you haven't downloaded it yet, get it at the Apple Store today.

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!

Random Resource ThuRsday - Filtering Software

Looking for other options for filtering software for your computer, visit pornharms.org resource section.

2 of the resources on the page I have already blogged about..but perhaps there is another resource that might work better for your family. Regardless, help protect everyone's eyes!

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