As addicts we need to totally change our lives, in order to be free of addictions and the temptations to reuse.
It is my belief that God created us, and that addiction is not a surprise to Him. Actually, He created everything associated with addiction, but the purpose was originally for good. It was to get us addicted to, and derive pleasure from the good things. It was to help us to be devoted to God, and the things that benefit our lives. But, we are fallen and our love and devotion to good things, becomes used for evil and twisted.
So, as addicts we must replace our bad addictions, with good things. We must devote ourselves to things that do not harm us. By doing this it will help us avoid temptations, controlling influences, and give us a stepping place to be free of everything, except for what we choose to be devoted to.
Addiction is not always based on chemicals we consume. Gambling, Sex addictions, Food addictions, are not caused by chemicals you take. They are from chemicals produced in the brain, that bring pleasure in some way. Even the drugs we take influence those chemicals already in our brain. That’s where the battle must occur.
I am in no way simplifying or belittling the struggle we as addicts face. I’m not saying that simply painting pictures, or going to church, or exercising will cure us. I’m saying these things are tools to a better life, and a distraction from the gnawing desire of what we crave. Then, over time the craving gets less and less. It has helped me.
So, let’s begin. These are things we can become addicted or devoted to that will help us take the focus off of our current addictions and give us purpose, and hope. The first thing is;
God– Become addicted to God, the things of God and serving Him as He calls you. This goes along with any 12 step program, but what I’m saying is that we really let God have more of an influence in our life. He calls you to a relationship with Him. This has worked for millions, and is the real foundation of AA, and the 12 step programs. Ask God to save you and heal you through Jesus Christ. Then walk a spiritual path, with Him working in your life. Addict yourself to it. I have done it and God works in my life daily.
Travel– I use travel as a form of healing. When I was a drunk, I had no money or real desire to see the world. When I was in prison I could not see the world. But, now I see it. I use travel to remain excited about life, and to not have a reason to use. Start traveling locally. Go to a new restaurant, museums, parks, and the next town over. Then start planning better trips. Start close, so you will not get discouraged with costs, or the inability to go. Become addicted to exploring and freedom. But, remember you are still an addict and need to avoid triggers.
Health and Fitness– Become addicted to health and fitness. Eat right, try new diets and join a gym. Start running, walking, and cycling. Grow your own healthy food. Go to farmer’s markets and get fresh organic food. Study herbs, and alternative medicines to avoid the pharmaceuticals. Get addicted to it. Not steroids, but health and life. It’s a life style change that will help you decide to stay clean, because you’ve worked too hard to be healthy. I’ve come to a place in my life, where I try my best to take no meds that are not natural. You can do it.
Athletics– Get addicted to sports. Not just watching them, but playing them. Pick a sport you can do, and go all in. Team sports will help you remain accountable. Individual sports will help you to be responsible for yourself and increase will power. Basketball, swimming, rock climbing, softball, tennis, marathons, there are tons of sports to choose from. I went with running. Study it, practice it, and get better and better. Addict yourself to it, and let it heal you. This can be done with other things mentioned here. You can travel to play your sport. You can be healthy for your sport. You can talk to God while performing your sport. Get addicted to it.
Outdoors– Get addicted to the outdoors. Get in love with God’s creation. Go hiking, camping, mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking, or just go out there and sit and meditate. I can tell you that many of the greatest breakthroughs I have had in my healing have come from being in the woods, alone with God.
Serve others– Get addicted to helping others. Join groups that are making a difference. Help others with addiction or who have worse troubles than you. You have come through much, use it to help others. Save the planet, save animals. Give yourself to God and others. Watch what happens to you and your life. Often times when we try to heal others, we find ourselves healed in the process. But, remember that when you are dealing with people it can tempt you to use. You should avoid helping other addicts till you are strong enough. Just get away from that mess. Serve in other ways that is not a trigger.
Start a Business– Get addicted to the excitement of entrepreneurship. Study, go to school, and get a job in the field you love or feel called to, then start your own business so you can provide for yourself and your family. The effort and success will benefit you in many ways, and give you reasons to stay clean. If school and jobs are not an option, then just go out and make it happen. Do not be tied down by fear and controlling influences. Get addicted to success and being financially free. Learn a trade.
Art– Get addicted to creating art. Embrace your creative side and let it heal you. Travel to see art. Buy art. Make art. Go to school for art. Try all the various art forms, painting, music, writing, architecture, cooking, acting, or any other art form that speaks to you. The desire to create can help you avoid things that prevent you from creating.
This is a list of things you can do to change your life and help give you a purpose and a focus that is not drug oriented. But, be aware that drugs and alcohol can easily be involved with all these things, and they can just as easily destroy them. I used alcohol with many of these things camping, writing, and travel or food. But, it destroyed me and kept me from them. I would drink while writing, but after a few drinks I could no longer write, and it eventually kept me from it.
A person can be tempted while doing these things. Art often links to drug use. Sports, involves drinking. Business might cause you to be led into a business meeting where there is alcohol. But, if you use these things in conjunction with other methods of sobriety such as 12 step programs or rehab, they can benefit you. The key is to stay away from situations that will lead you to use, and destroy the life you are trying to build. I currently use all of these methods in my life. My life has become full of goodness and focused on so much that I simply cannot use. I would lose everything. I would not be able to focus. These things give me more reasons to say no. They give me more reasons to get up every day and stay sober. God has helped me and opened my eyes to these things.
Remember, that these things must be a part of a lifestyle change. They cannot be like a diet, where you are just trying to lose a few pounds. You must decide to be new, and give yourself to God, and make changes for real. If you just want to get a little straight, you will be craving your old life, the whole time you are struggling to stay sober. You must decide that the new life is better for you, and be happy about it. You must decide to hate your old life. You must get addicted to the good things.
You must wake up to God. You must wake up to life, and hate the death that once controlled you. You must realize that God is healing you, even if you can’t see it right now. That is faith. You must wake up to the child you once were before the poisons took over your life. Remember that free child who had hopes and dreams? Now, go find that little one. That’s the real you. Get addicted to the real you.
This is the link to my addiction recovery book. It’s an Ebook. It tells my story of addiction and recovery, along with my views on how to stay clean.
The philosophy of the turd sandwich is basically where you or someone else tries to convince a person, that the turd sandwich they are eating is actually a roast beef sandwich.
To say it differently, you or someone else is having trouble in life. So, you come up with or deliver some philosophy to someone else; which basically does nothing but make them comfortable, or forget or justify what is happening to them.
I know that is not very clear, so let me give you an example. Let’s say Joe has a job he hates, and a boss who is a jerk. So, he complains to his best friend and his best friend says “Well, at least you still have a job.” That is a turd sandwich. It does nothing to solve the problem, and it only silences or soothes the person who is suffering.
Here’s another one. Sally has a bad relationship, and a life that is unfulfilling for her. While surfing through Facebook, she sees a meme that talks about how a person in Haiti lives in a dirt floor hut, and drinks dirty water. He has a club foot and an infected tooth. Then, the meme says, “Your problems are not that bad.” That is a turd sandwich. It tries to make you feel better by showing that things could be worse. It seeks to guilt you into silence or acceptance of things that should be better or changed. We know things are jacked up. We can see that things are not right.
But, nothing ever gets fixed. Your problems and mine are no less valid, than anyone else’s. Our brain does not differentiate between types of stress and anxiety. I feel for the person in Haiti or anywhere else, and think he should have his problems solved too. The idea behind the turd sandwich is the thought that we cannot solve problems, so we have to justify or make ourselves feel better. There are entire religions based upon this concept. We have kept ourselves, and entire civilizations quiet and docile with philosophies, that continue to let those in power abuse, rob, and kill us. We have created ways to accept, justify, spiritualize or explain away suffering, when we should be putting a stop to it.
Why can’t we fix what’s wrong? I think we can, and I no longer want to accept the turd sandwich they have been feeding us. I want to solve problems, not make excuses or justify evil, or suck on a pacifier to soothe myself.
Those with the power and the voice, and the money do not want to change the system. Or else it would be changed overnight. It’s amazing how fast Congress and courts can move when the system itself is in danger. Those in power can shut down the entire system in a week if they want, but yet claim to be powerless to solve the most basic problems of our society.
We have experts who can tell you how to live your life, and can figure out how to make poisons that destroy our world, and keep us enslaved, but they can’t put their heads together and come up with solutions? And if you think one political party is the solution, and that another party is the problem, you’re not getting it. You are eating the biggest turd sandwich of them all, because neither party has solved anything at all. It’s all just a pacifier to keep you quiet, while you eat the turd sandwich they feed us.
Stop being soothed. Get mad. Stand up, and ignore the lies. Demand that things get solved. We can make a better world, if we try.
Let me tell you, that there are two types of tragedies in this world; natural and man-made. Natural tragedies are things that we are truly powerless to fix right now; such as death itself, diseases, genetics, and natural disasters. Humans are powerless to stop or change these things at this time in history. These are things we must just “deal” with. These are things that our philosophies and religions can help us with.
But, man-made tragedies like poverty, war, crime, inequality, oppression, and these sorts of things can be fixed. Humans have been in societies for thousands of years and we have not been able to solve these problems yet? We have not been able to figure out how to not treat each other like crap? We have not tried. Those in positions of power have not wanted it changed.
We don’t need a turd sandwich philosophy that makes us feel better when it comes to man-made tragedies. We need a philosophy that gets us to stand up and fight to solve these problems and to not take it anymore. A philosophy that realizes that these problems can be fixed, but there are those in power who do not want to fix them.
We need to stop swallowing the turd sandwich and letting suffering continue just because we can come up with spiritual ways to make us feel better in our suffering. Instead we need to come up with spiritual and intellectual ways to solve the problems, and end suffering.
I’m done suffering in silence, and letting those who allow it; get away with it.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois.
God is working, even when it doesn’t seem like it.
Verse: “All that the father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. —John 6:37
I failed in my life; and like so many others I had asked God to save me when I was young. I went to church and I asked God to save me as a child, but then life happened, and I got worse and worse. I’m not the only one. I have spoken to so many people who have asked God to save them, and help them. But, then they failed; and they could not keep right, not even for a day. They could not measure up to the standards the church people or family or friends put them under. I was the same.
We start going to church and we see the people who pretend to be perfect, and we don’t measure up. Our life is rough. We don’t have all the church boxes marked, so we feel judged. We feel that we cannot do what God wants us to do. We hear sermons, where we are constantly beat down and fail. So, we quit. We just give up and go back to living. We cant do the church thing.
But, God did not give up on me. Every tough time in my life, was God working in me trying to get me to listen to Him. Every good time, was God showing me He cared. He was with me, even though I ignored Him until I really needed Him. There are so many people walking around who think God has cast them out. He hasn’t. If you asked Him to save you, He has, and He is working.
Now, imagine you hired a contractor to save your crumbling house, and make it great. But, you forgot you hired someone. Yet, you come home and trip over boards lying around. You step in wet concrete. You get mad because of the noise, and cannot figure out what’s going on. Your roof is gone one day, and some unexpected rain gets in the house. Another day, you feel nice and warm because all the drafts have been sealed, and you have new windows, and new insulation. You never see someone working, but something is up.
You can’t figure out what’s going on because you forgot that you made a contract with a Master Builder. He comes and works every day. But, even when he leaves the project to sit for a while, it’s for a purpose. The concrete is drying. The drywall mud is drying. The landscaping is growing. But, the Contractor is still working.
This happened to me, I prayed to receive Christ when I was young, and I got worse. I never realized the truth of it. But, I knew that He answered my prayers. Finally, He woke me up, through life’s breaking power, and I threw myself on Him. Then I started to learn of Him, and grow in Him. Now I see the boards on the ground, and the wet concrete. I enjoy seeing the landscape grow; because I’ve let Him teach me, and wake me up. I’ve studied The Builders Manual. I’ve been taught by the Spirit.
Now I can look back at my life and see that He was there, and working all along. No matter what family said, no matter what the church said, no matter what friends and enemies said. God was there working, and He never abandoned me. No matter how bad I am, He is there working as He promised. Even still today, He is there. Everything that happens to me is Him working in some way. Turn to Him, and learn of Him. Ask Him to save you and teach you His ways. Listen to His still small voice and follow Him. I know it’s hard. Tell Him it’s hard, and that you need Him to do it. Then, watch Him move.
He works on us. He grows us. He does not cast us aside.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
We are justified in Christ There was only one law in the beginning. Just one. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”–Gen. 2:17 People want to act like God is some eternal killjoy,…
Abide in the Lord We all face trouble in life. It is something we can all agree upon. No matter who you are, something bad will eventually come to cause you trouble. Something will break your heart. Something will break you down. Something will make you crazy, concerned or confused. When we look at the…
Satan’s Insanity If you’ve read the Bible, you know that we have a spiritual enemy. Satan fell sometime after creation. We do not know exactly when, but it was because he desired to be “like the most High”. (Isa. 14: 12-17) He wants to be God. This desire led to his fall and corruption. It…
When depression sets in; and you only see the end. Rise up and walk.
A little here. A little there. Around the block; or down a beautiful trail. Rise up and walk.
If you’re sick; pray and believe. Then, rise up and walk.
Trapped in a place? Rise up and walk. Use those legs to escape; and carry you away.
Bored with life? Bored with those gray, lazy days? Rise up and walk. Go see the sites.
Use your super power; to rise up and walk. Take yourself away, from the troubles of any day.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
When we are walking with the Lord. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, ……… Wait for it Wait let it sink in for a few minutes Pay attention to how much it bothers you to just rest in Christ Hold Hold Hold Ok ……who walk not after the…
The Spirit battles against the flesh This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye…
He is faithful God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.—1 Cor. 1:9 How is trust built? With anyone, whether it’s parents or friends or enemies or government or neighbors, trust is built or destroyed by relationship, and experience. It is the same with God.…
Parents Teachers Doctors Store Owners Friends Family Preacher Policeman Fireman Mailman Milkman Farmer Homeless man Politician Insurance man Beautician Your Spouse, and everyone.
Are in it for the money; and you are just a customer.
They will never set you free. Test it and see.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet, and blogger from Southern Illinois.
Photo by the poet. A place in D.C.
This poem is from my new poetry ebook, “Against The Man” it can be purchased HERE. or HERE. or other online books stores.
Free Life Blog 