Virtual Road to Recovery
Recently I wrote about one of the worst days of my life: getting bit by a centipede in line at Starbucks.
It wasn’t necessarily having the long, freaky bug up my pant leg, it was more the culmination of a terrible year of my life.
Breaking free from any addiction can take a usually stable person down all kinds of dark paths. I’m pretty sure all of us go through it at least once in our lives. Those who don’t are probably anomalies, like people who can make it their entire life without breaking a bone.
My addiction came in the form of falling in love with the wrong person. It was the most euphoric experience I’ve ever had. Every waking moment of my life revolved around one guy. There were limited ways to stalk him online in those days, so I’d recount every moment, every detail. I’d replay things he said over and over in my head and count the minutes until we could see each other again. I’d save notes, receipts or drawings — anything that had something about him was a cherished relic.
I had it bad. But this wasn’t a healthy relationship. It almost immediately was built on broken trust and insecurities that caused us to drag each other down. The deeper down the rabbit hole I went, the harder it was to do well in any other area of my life, work especially.
Once you make the decision that the relationship is going nowhere and it needs to end, a new relationship starts — and it’s even worse. That’s the breaking free from addiction part. The longer you draw it out, the harder it is to do the right thing and move on. These types of situations really can bring out ugly behavior in people.
They say it takes half the time you were with someone to fully recover from your love addiction and be free. That means every time you go back to each other to satisfy your “fix,” you are rolling it all back to day zero.
I found that distraction was key to getting through the inevitable waiting period to heal from my lovesickness. I stayed busy, and then before I knew it, two years had gone by and I was better.
For $1.99, you can get virtual help with the RecoveryBox Addiction Recovery Toolbox. You can select addictions in all areas: anger, being right, alcohol, compulsive behaviors, gambling, love, laziness, hoarding, sex, self-judgement, steroids … The list is incredibly long.
It is designed to hold users accountable and helps you set goals to break unhealthy habits. Daily, you document things you’ve done, whether they’re good or bad. You list activities like a stoplight: Green is good, yellow is risky and red is bad. You also can record triggers, in order to establish patterns of when and why you do certain things.
The app rewards you with badges for good behavior. That does help get you through the hard work, but I admit, it does not compare to that euphoric feeling.
It’s not easy, but I can tell you that it’s possible to come out on the other side virtually unscathed.
@SUPERCW
Christa Wittmier is “SUPERCW” on all social media. Find her on Snapchat, SoundCloud, Twitter, Vine and Instagram. By night, she is known as DJ SuperCW. By day, she is known as senior marketing director for Young’s Market Company of Hawaii. Her nightlife blog SuperCity runs every Wednesday on HonoluluPulse.com.
