What's the FIRST step to stopping your addiction?
I am wondering if we all have different first steps to our recovery journey. No matter what addiction you've fell in, shouldn't there be the FIRST step?
I will go first.
Sex addiction- Transparency. After its discovered by ones you love, you tell them the truth and truth only.
You're next!
I think being honest with yourself about where you are with it is the first step. Being able to acknowledge there is an addiction or there are red flags.
@Jill7cups
I do agree. I think addiction makes people guilty and so ashamed that they continue to lie and hide in hopes that hiding the details can make things easier to move forward. What they don't know is that, being true to yourself and ones who loves you is the most important step of someone's recovery.
@Jackie 
LOVE
this " being true to yourself and ones who loves you is the most important step of someone's recovery"
I agree with everyone here, there has been some great answers so far! I just want to first of all thank everyone for sharing and let you know how much this community has meant to me.
The first step for me was just being completely honest with myself first, then others. I kept hiding everything, and that only made it worse, made things more complicated and consuming bonth my time and energy. It was the only focus I had, period. Once I started to be honest with myself I could see things for what they really were. When I started being honest with others, I didn't quite have the support I hoped for, but I wasn't hiding everything anymore and it made it easier to move forward.
I'm not going to lie, I have tripped up multiple times and lied about it too, but I have also moved forward more than I would have if not for taking the first step. I think it is super important to think about these things, and really focus on what's going to help us personally. Not necessarily what a pamphlet says, or what works for everyone else, or even what a therapist says, (although all of things can be fantastic tools for recovery and support) but what's going to help YOU the most.
@ClassicalMe
hello and thank you for sharing. I do agree with you. You must be honest with yourself to be honest with others. It wouldn't go the other way. I have crossed path with some incredibly strong people who wanted recovery but wasn't ready for anyone to help them. Even when the truth was written on the walls, they denied it ever happened. I am interested in knowing what you think would help one to come upto the surface so that their intent to becoming well can begin. Or is there a such? Can someone really help one to begin their recovery?
For me. Believing that it's not impossible to break the addiction.
@powerfulPine1547
Hello, Without faith in yourself there is no recovery. Believing your worth and knowing you're capable to become well is very important. Thank you for sharing and I hope you're having a good day!
The first step to breaking addiction is admitting to yourself and others that you have a problem that you can
@bgdave
Reaching for helping hand is sometimes the hardest part. But once you find your support the rest is history.
@Jackie
Yes I agree I quit smoking cigarettes Dec 31 of 1999. I quit drinking alcohol Oct of 2014. I have been Cannabis free since Feb 13 2015. One day at a time, sometimes it was one minute at a time but I have done what I set my mind to and when I needed support I reached for it.
I believe the first step is to trully belive that you have a problem. if you keep looking at it as "im not addicted, ill be fine" "it wont happen to me", then you are failing yourself. And if you fail yourself in realizing your true addictions, you will never be abl to fully recover. You might get clean for a bit but that relapse is just around the corner.
@sympatheticBalsam3097
Hello!
Denial is the recovery's worst enemy alright. Trusting your intuition and not ignoring the real truth is very important.
I think it is obvious: admitting that you have an adiction is a first logical step. It may be hard but what is harder is to go to the next step, will you/can you do smth about it? :((
@floreral67
I could not agree more! We do indeed need to understand the harm we are causing before we can start anywhere. Thank you for sharing and have a great day!
Acknowledge is the first step for recovery. I am a former opiate addict... In the past I didn't realized why people become addicted to certain meds like painkillers because I didn't feel high, just better. But I quickly got it that when you are depressed and suicidal, better is preferable to high. I personally was addicted to norco 10/325 for over 5 years .. I used to take around 8-9 pills a day. Now I know that the number one thing to do is to acknowledge you have a dependence ant this is a HUGE problem, then use professional medical help ( I used help of new york rehab center https://addictionresource.com/drug-rehab/new-york/ ), keep in touch with other opiod addicts and get to know what helps them (the members of this community will definitely help you https://talk.drugabuse.com/). Having beaten that damn dependence, I have my life back and now mentally I have back my focus. This is an amazing feeling of being free.
@Jackie
I had sex addiction - always recovering from it - first thing that i had to do was SURRENDER.
No more defending my decisions - taking ownership of them and (to @jackie 's point) telling the TRUTH. It's allowing everyone who you thought you were close to, to become close to you once again.
Fear of judgement. Fear of missing out. Fear of truly being known. Fear of responsibility. Fear ... surrender to it all. Welcome to rock bottom. Now that you're starting over, meet the people in your life who truly are awesome.
@Jackie
Get honest, humble and surrender. Learn, listen and follow instructions of a sponsor. Remember I know nothing, absolutly, completly nothing.
Admittig and acceptance...first you have to admit to yourself and accept the fact that you are a victim of addiction. I say victim because addiction is an affliction and we addicts are victims in fact...so realising it and admitting it is the first step, some say the hardest, some the easiest, the road ahead just begins...
