• Profile picture of Durr

    Durr posted an update in the group Group logo of CommunityCommunity 2 years, 3 months ago

    ALTERNATE ACTIVITIES ARE VITALLY IMPORTANTLY
    1. To quit an addiction we decide to do new activities and then we do them. They are not for fun, play, pleasure or profit. It is wise to treat them like work or some great difficult goal.
    2. Example: I decide my new activity is playing the piano. First I set a goal: 30 minutes per day. # 2 Decide exactly when you will do it: 6:30 PM. # 3 Say 10 times daily why you need to do this activity: “I need to play the piano so that I stop being a slave to ______.” # 4 Pray, “Father take away this spirit of gambling, and show me how playing the piano will help me to do Your will someday.”
    3. Spiritual goals should be # 1 in life. But after that your activity goals should sometimes be next most important. But what about family. It is a balance, a juggling game that you need to play until you get healthy. One solution to the family question is to work out with them. Do a hobby with them.
    4. New activities are not great fun if you are really addicted. Addiction uses up all our fun and leaves us dark and empty. So keep this in mind. The exact same activities that you don’t love in week one of quitting seem a lot better in week 4 after you have been clean for a month and are in a good place with God.
    5. Someday, some of your new activities will become positive addictions. I lift weights every day. I play either the piano or bass guitar virtually every day. I write articles about addiction every day and I do many other things every day.
    6. Secondly, I want to try to explain how life gets better after we quit. With addiction we move from fun event (hopefully) to fun event. Trying to find answers, fun, thrills. With freedom plus Jesus, we start to find increasing joy, and answers. With addiction we watch TV always searching frantically for thrills. With freedom plus Jesus, we start to enjoy clean TV and we start to find contentment. With addiction there are no answers. With freedom plus Jesus, we start to find a purpose for living. With addiction we are driven, driven, driven. A constant flurry of trying to find… I don’t know what. With freedom plus Jesus, we can ask Jesus what He wants us to do. Then we are filled with His peace and we can do His will. With addiction we sometimes struggle with family and people. With freedom plus Jesus we learn how important it is to live in love.
    7. Activities are a key. They will change your life if you make it a priority to do them daily.