This is a letter I wrote to a member who said when she came in she was also a recovering alcoholic. For privacy reasons I am not going to reveal the members identity. The message that applies to her applies to every recovering addict.
If some of you have personal insights from having dealt with other addictions you are free to attach into this string. As I said, it is one I will bring up often as the question of drinking arise. We have three groups of people here at Freedom, people who never drank, people who were social drinkers, and people who were recovering alcoholics. The first two groups can choose what way they approach alcohol once they quit smoking. The last group cannot, alcohol controlled them once just as nicotine did. Both substances must be dealt with the same way now. That is by the individual understanding that he or she can never take another sip and never take another puff!
Joel
Hello xxxxx:

Let me echo everyone else's welcome and assurance that you are in the right place. Your background in AA will serve you well here. You basically come to us with a thorough understanding of addiction. If you didn't, you would not be a recovering alcoholic but rather, an actively drinking one. You understand the principal of one drink, or one sip for that fact.

Now it is just transferring your experience and knowledge with alcohol and aiming it at nicotine. Same problem, drug addiction--same solution, stop delivering it into your system.

You probably feel quitting is scary, what will your life be like without smoking? Well, you probably had those exact same fears when quitting drinking. You were right when you thought your life would be different. It in all likelihood became immeasurably better. The same will hold true with this effort.

I always state it this way. Treat an addiction as an addiction and you will learn to control it. Treat an addiction like a bad habit and you won't have a prayer. Your use of nicotine is an addiction. Take your understanding of addiction, aim it at nicotine and you will do fine.

I should point out, whenever I have anyone who quits smoking after quitting another substance; they often have a harder time than many others in the group. Smoking may have been a crutch off the other substance. Now, when quitting, not only are they trying to break free from a primary addiction, but, they are trying to pull off the crutch from the other addiction.

While it may be harder up front, they are usually more successful than the average, again, because they understand addiction. Aim your other program at this and you will do fine.

If anything we can do to help, don't hesitate to ask.


Joel

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