From Addiction to Recovery: What is the Right Path for You?

Posted on November 09, 2012 by Maria Goldblatt, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

Addictions are known to manifest in different ways. Some are much more evident when they impact an individual’s livelihood and ability to function on a day to day basis. However, the thing to watch out for are the addictions that involve what is considered healthy living. These addictions include exercise, dieting, church and religion, and adrenaline, just to name a few. Oftentimes, when there is a clear addiction identified, individuals may decide to stop engaging in it but because they never deal with the underlying cause of the addiction, they may either shift the addiction to another area in their life, for example a work addiction, or may become what is known as a “dry” addict. Dry addicts are individuals who stop engaging in an addiction altogether but never address their issues, so they continue to engage in negative behaviors and their lives often remain unmanageable.

When addictions affect our behavior and impact the important relationships in our lives we tend to be susceptible to making a change. It tends to be much more complex when an individual is engaging in an addiction, but their lives are not impacted at all, or so it seems, and they continue to function at work or school, and continue to maintain healthy relationships with their loved ones. Often what is not considered is the fact that there are core issues that led to this behavior in the first place.

Once an addiction is identified by the individual, it is important that they want to make the necessary changes in their lives. Once they have that desire to change, there are several options. There are rehabilitation and twelve step programs that cover just about every addiction known to us. There is also the option of therapy for those who recognize that there are some extensive underlying issues they wish to address and move forward from. But then there are those individuals who, as a direct result of their addiction, have lost their jobs, their homes, their relationships and even their health. These individuals may feel lost and defeated and unsure of which way to go. They want to address their core issues, but they are unable to when they aren’t able to have their primary needs met. They need more of a solution focused approach to get their lives back on track. This is where life coaching comes in. All the different arenas of recovery previously mentioned are beneficial to individuals struggling with addiction, but when it comes to setting life goals and moving forward, life coaching is the best direction to go.

With life coaching, individuals are free to meet with a coach and focus on specific areas of their lives without feeling judged or worrying about being diagnosed. With this approach, there is no pressure to delve into the past to rehash old mistakes and trauma. Individuals can just focus on fixing a presenting problem so that they may improve the quality of their lives. There is so much freedom and flexibility with this approach and sessions are often conducted from the convenience of the individual’s own home over the telephone or via Skype.

Best of luck on your journey!