Breaking Free - A Christian's Guide to Overcoming Addiction

Make a Game Plan

You need a plan.

Overcoming an addiction isn't something that can happen overnight, and it sure as heck doesn't happen without a lot of work.

You need to create a game plan—a plan of attack.

You can't go off to battle unequipped.

The thing is, everyone's game plan is going to be different. You're going to have to figure out what works for you.

And you'll probably end up changing your game plan a little as you go along and realize what helps and what doesn't.

To help you create a game plan, I'm going to talk to you about what worked for me.

        1. I completely cut out my sources.

Because of what I was addicted to, I cut myself off from any websites or sources that would provide me with the books I was reading. One of these websites was Wattpad. And you might be wondering why I'm on Wattpad right now if I cut if completely out, and I'll explain that later.

Anyways, when you're battling an addiction, you want to run as far away from things that help enable that addiction as possible. Even though Wattpad had a million other books that weren't the ones I was trying to avoid and didn't contain the content I was trying to avoid, I still didn't want to put myself closer to temptation by staying on that website.

        2. I started working out.

You know that momentary high you get when you're doing what you're addicted to? That's the endorphins your brain produces saying hello.

I decided that I needed to find a healthy way to create those endorphins so I wouldn't be searching for them by feeding into my addictions more.

Now this, working out, was something I'd started because I wanted to start eating healthy again. Like I mentioned in chapter 3, I was in a state of self-loathing. I'd look in the mirror and hate the way I looked. This led to me skipping meals to "slim up", which is something you should never do.

I decided that I'd start working out at home to help me feel more confident, and because I was working out, I was basically forced to eat because I needed the energy and the protein for muscle development.

But here's a little fact about working out. It pumps up the endorphins into your body. The same endorphins your brain creates when you're in that high from your addiction.

I found that on the days I worked out, I didn't have as much desire to partake in any of what I was addicted to.

I also found that on the days I didn't work out, I was more likely to fall back into old patterns, and those are the days when I slipped up.

        3. I dedicated time to meditate on God's word.

The biggest thing pushing me to fight against my addictions was God.

I knew what I was doing disappointed Him, and I knew it wasn't honoring to Him to keep doing it.

I found, that when I took time every morning, before I did anything else, and read at least one chapter of my bible, I had that chapter, whatever I read, surrounding me for the rest of the day. It was like a shield around my brain. It started off my day on the right note and just helped give me the strength to make it through without slipping up.

        4. Philippians 4:8

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
This bible verse is a big part of what helped me break free from my addiction.