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Abstract

alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.</blockquote><blockquote id="b97c">~ The Big Book, page 24.</blockquote>I mumbled something about doing more therapy sessions to stay in touch with my baseline feelings, but my new sponsor was having none of it.‘This isn’t an emotional issue!’ he said, cutting in. ‘This is a memory issue that no amount of therapy you chose to throw money at will solve.’He even suggested that the mental blank spot could be similar to a form of amnesia or dementia that science hasn’t picked up on yet.‘But why hasn’t science picked up on it?’ I asked, holding the phone tightly.‘Probably because this blank spot only happens at certain times. Most of the time, it lays dormant.’ he replied before warning,‘And unfortunately, this dormancy feature gives us an illusion of power. We think we’ve got sobriety now because our memory and willpower function normally again. Until, the condition randomly comes back online, and we relapse, leaving us totally baffled as to why it happened.’My new sponsor sighed deeply.‘It’s heartbreaking,’ he said softly. ‘Especially if you’ve relapsed after being multiple years clean. But it is sadly needed to show you that you are genuinely powerless, regardless of how much you desire and want to be sober.’My head was spinning. Every sentence felt like the jolt of an electric cattle prod.Later that day, I looked back at my recent relapses. I found no real conscious memory of consequences before any of them.It appeared relapse was happening to me, not by me.<blockquote id="8aba">As soon as I regained my ability to think, I went carefully over that evening in Washington. Not only had I been off guard, I had made no fight whatever against the first drink. This time I had not thought of the consequences at all. I had commenced to drink as carelessly as though the cocktails were ginger ale. I now remembered what my alcoholic friends had told me, how they prophesied that if I had an alcoholic mind, the time and place would come — I would drink again. They had said that though I did raise a defense, it would one day give way before some trivial reason for having a drink. Well, just that did happen and more, for what I had learned of alcoholism did not occur to me at all. I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots. I had never been able to understand people who said that a problem had them hopelessly defeated. I knew then. It was a crushing blow.</blockquote><blockquote id="93f7">~ The Big Book, page 41.</blockquote><figure id="7922"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*n4r4HuNFWSnCD_WU"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@alicealinari?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Alice Alinari</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="287c">A Belief That It Will All Be Alright.</h2>Sadly, the ‘blank spot’ wasn’t all that was happening.My new sponsor later explained that something else was happening in my mind, a kind of twisting of my thinking that I couldn’t see either.This is the other main feature of the relapse condition.The Big Book explains it as follows:<blockquote id="f067">But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning, there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out.</blockquote><blockquote id="4ad8">~ The Big Book, page 37.</blockquote>Anytime the ‘good idea’ of relapsing suddenly popped into my head, part of me would start to minimise the lunacy of this thought.I would begin to rationalise this catastrophic idea with excuses and reasons why it would be, in fact, okay to relapse despite being in recovery.No matter how insignificant and non-sensical those reasons were, they quickly became plausible and seemingly rational.At the same time, the urge to want to relapse would start to surge.A fear of missing out would relentlessly come crashing in like waves rolling in and out of my consciousness.Thoughts and narratives of why it would be okay this time would dominate my thinking.Finally, a tidal wave of justification would smother me into deep unconsciousness.Convinced of my rationale, I would carry out my plan, only to revert back to type and do everything I said I wouldn’t do, and again, find myself powerless to stop once I started.This twisted thinking was nothing more than a lie, but I believed the lie and didn’t see the flaw in the logic in light of my track record with partying.To any average person, this kind of thinking and decision-making would be termed irrational, unsound, or even insa

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ne.The Big Book calls this thinking an ‘obsession to beat the game’.Whether it’s a vague idea that this time it would be different, that I would do it differently and party like a gentleman.Or the well-loved excuse that this will be my last relapse. After this final time, I’ll be done for good. I’ll get on with my life.But, it never was different and that last time never did happen.My new sponsor would remind me often,‘You aren’t changing your mind when you’ve decided to give in and party; your mind has been changed for you.’<h2 id="4c19">It Centers In Our Minds</h2>Of course, there is a body element for the addict.Naturally, as a consequence of the constant extreme usage of powerfully addictive substances and processes that are designed by their very nature to make you want more and more, addicts have developed a sky-high tolerance.But there’s this annihilation approach to our acting out and using once we start, which the Big Book describes as the ‘phenomenon of craving’.In the Doctor’s opinion in the Big Book, Dr. Silkworth calls the phenomenon of craving an ‘allergy’, but my new sponsor wasn’t too keen on that idea.‘If it’s an allergy, then why doesn’t the phenomenon of craving happen every time?’Regardless of whether it is an allergy, the body part becomes irrelevant, as most people with a severe peanut allergy don’t tend to keep repeating the total lost cause of trying to have another peanut to see if they will react differently.They don’t touch or go anywhere near peanuts because they remember how terrible it was last time.Once or twice is enough.Not so with the real addict because of the first two features of the disease; they will not only be back gorging on peanuts, but they will eventually take up residence in a peanut factory.<blockquote id="e3f6">There is a complete failure of the kind of defence that keeps one from putting his hand on a hot stove. The alcoholic may say to himself in the most casual way, “It won’t burn me this time, so here’s how!” Or perhaps he doesn’t think at all.</blockquote><blockquote id="d5e6">~ The Big Book, page 24.</blockquote>That’s why the Big Book says the real problem ‘centers in our mind’, not our bodies.‘What will happen now,’ my new sponsor forewarned, ‘as the relapses get worse, the time between them will get shorter and shorter.’This condition is progressive.Therefore, the blanking and twisting will naturally grow in scope and reach until you can no longer differentiate the true from the false.<h2 id="869b">Turning To Something Else</h2>If you believe in the disease concept of addiction, that this is a disease, a fatal illness precisely like any other life-threatening condition, then you have it for life.There is nothing you can do to change that.If you constantly can’t remember why or how you relapsed despite your honest desire not to.Or if you continually relapse, believing some trivial reason or silly excuse to relapse while dismissing the genuine consequences, then you are a real addict.You have this relapse condition.You crossed a threshold where, at certain times, your inability to use reasoning and rational thinking won’t even register for you.The tragic truth is that once that threshold has been crossed, you have no choice but to relapse.A compromised part of your brain will always fire the thought of using or acting out. That will never change. It’s wired like that for life.There is no cure.Even this information won’t save you, as at certain times, you won’t be able to recall any of it when it matters.So, let go of trying to change that.Let go of any old ideas around fighting it and instead get out of the way and trust in something else.After all, that’s all you’ve got.There’s nothing you or anyone else can do to stop this relapse condition.But there’s everything you can do about everything else.There’s everything you can do about building a spiritual dimension to your life, by giving back, helping others, living in genuine faith and trusting in something greater than you.There’s everything you can do to improve your awareness and intuition, raise your consciousness and develop another part of your brain.And let this part of your brain grow bigger and stronger than that addictive part so that it can embrace and look after that compromised part.Just like a bigger and wiser older sibling can care for and comfort a much younger upset sibling by giving that stressed child a big hug.There’s everything you can do about deciding to take on a new attitude, direction, and way of life that will keep this condition dormant one day at a time.If this article speaks to you, please follow, share and subscribe to me for more.Click <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDarrenJames">here</a> to follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDarrenJames">X</a>.</article></body>

THE SUMMIT | INSPIRATION

5 Common Causes of Procrastination

It’s Time To Beat Procrastination Day:- 1

Today’s the first post of the insane month's motivation challange. This contest is going to last for four weeks.

There are four themes for four weeks.

Procrastination
Time Management
Consistency/Discipline
Getting out of your comfort zone

The one theme will last for 7 days. In these 7 days, I will publish prompts regarding the same theme. It will help you to know yourself better and at the same time, you can be able to write more.

The goal of this challenge is to make you feel empowered and inspire. As per the theme, today’s topic is “Procrastination”. For the first week, our tagline and goal are, “It’s Time To Beat The Procrastination”.

In the process of achieving our dreams, the most challenging thing to overcome is “Procrastination”.

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.

-Napoleon Hill

As per the Oxford definition, Procrastination means the act of putting off doing something that you should do till another day or time because you do not want to do it.

In simple words, you just keep postponing the work that you should do today because of so many reasons.

If you are not getting success, procrastination can be a thing that is stopping you from achieving what you want.

To overcome procrastination, you first have to identify it. Without knowing the problem, it’s impossible to solve the problem.

Here are some of the common signs of a person who procrastinates.

You always miss the deadlines
You can get distracted easily
You can not able to fulfill your daily goals
You are always a late comer
You always make excuses when it comes to work
You take too much time to make small decisions
You don’t like to do hard tasks
You always say, “I’ll do it tomorrow”.

If your answer is yes, then it’s time to beat your procrastination.

Before you start your journey to beat your Procrastination, it’s important to know the “Why”?

Why do you procrastinate?

Here are some of the common reasons why people procrastinate?

Fear Of Failure/Criticism

I think “Fear of failure” is like a monster in our life. We tend to avoid so many things because of this fear.

It’s a fear that stops you from doing what you like. No one likes to defeat, but it doesn’t mean we should stop playing.

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure."

-George Edward Woodberry

Life is like a game, no matter how many times you lose the match you have to wake up and try again. When you try, there is a chance of winning. However, when you stop trying there is a 100 guaranty that you will not succeed.

It’s better to keep moving and working rather than staying at the same place.

2. Don’t have a clear path/Directions

Sometimes, we want to achieve success, and to achieve it we are willing to do hard work. But, we don’t know from where to start.

To reach a destination, you need to have a path. Just like that to achieve goals, you need a path/directions.

Until you don’t know where you want to go, how will you find the way to reach there.

It’s important to have a clear kindest and goals in your mind to achieve success. Sometimes, you procrastinate just because you don’t know what to do or where to start.

Therefore, it’s important to think about your goals. Once, you know what you want it’s time to make your path to achieving what you want.

3. Lack of motivation

No one is born with motivation. Motivation works like fuel. You have to fuel yourself with motivation every day to work non-stop.

Motivation is an inevitable life skill. You have to learn it to change your life.

Motivation makes you confident and powerful, it will clarify your goals.

There are mainly two types of motivation.

Extrinsic Motivation

It’s a kind of motivation in which an individual is motivated by external rewards and desires.

2. Intrinsic Motivation

This is a type of motivation in which a person is motivated by his/her internal desires. In simple words, when you plan a goal for yourself, to make yourself better.

4. Too many distractions

In this technological era, we are surrounded by many distractions. From TikTok to YouTube shorts, our life has so many distractions.

Many times, we procrastinate because we lose our motivation and keep getting distracted by those distractions.

Notifications of different apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter makes is distracted in minutes.

5. Unstable mental health

Sometimes, mental illness can cause you to procrastinate.

If you have depression, anxiety, or ADHD(Attention deficit hyperactive disorder), there are more chances of being procrastinated. Even if you are stressed, you might procrastinate because it is closely related to your mood.

After reading about these common reasons why we Procrastinate?

Today’s is Prompt is,

Write down all the reasons why are you Procrastinating?

It’s important to know you're why before we reach any conclusion.

This is the first day prompt of the 7-day prompt theme of “Procrastination”.

Let’s beat Procrastination together.

I would like to invite Sorina Raluca Băbău Shameem Anwar Colleen Millstead Lucia Landini Hamsalekha Arbab Z. Penelope Mayfield Erica J Ilana Lydia Libby Shively McAvoy to share their views.

Here, are more detail about how to join this challenge and this community.

The Summit- A Place That Helps You To Inspire And Discover

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