Tackling Cocaine Usage

Welcome to section two. In this section I will have you take inventory of your current use and then we’ll focus on setting up your quit date.We’re going to talk about getting rid of triggers, how to detox and what to do on your first day. Let’s get started.   

Taking inventory is the place you want to start when making the decision to tackle any addiction. Taking inventory consists of two parts: time and money.

To do this: if you’re still using cocaine you’ll need some way to track your use - pen and paper, your phone, etc. If you’re not still using cocaine then you can go off memory.

As you track your use, there are two things to track: how much time you spend every day not in your right mindspace and how much money you spend every day on cocaine.

The time part can be a little subjective but here are some things to think about.

1. How much time do you spend each day trying to buy cocaine? This includes calling or texting your dealer, taking a trip to buy some and thinking about when the next time will be. For example, if you wake up in the morning around 9am and you immediately start thinking about when you’re going to get some and then text your dealer around 10am and wait for their response - that one hour right there. While you are waiting for their response, you are thinking about this constantly. Let’s say they respond around around 10:30, you meet up at 11am - take your first hit and you are high until 3pm and then you take some more and you’re high until you fall asleep around midnight. If you add those hours up, you’ll get 15 hours per day.

Another example, you haven’t done cocaine in a few days and start to think about it on Friday night at around 8pm. You text your dealer around 8:00 and meet up around 10pm - you stay up Friday night - Sunday morning around 8am and then crash, then don’t do it again until the next Friday- That would be 36 hours over 7 days.

However you calculate your time, and be honest with yourself here. Once you have that - figure out a weekly average. My first example: let’s say it’s every day then that would be 105 hours per week. My second example would be 36 hours per week. Yours is likely somewhere in between or may not even be close to either side of this spectrum.

Once you figure out your weekly average then times that number by 4. You’ll get your monthly average.

So for example, 36 x 4 = 144 hours per month or 105 x4 420 hours per month.

2. Okay so let’s now talk about the money part. Again, you’ll want to figure out how much you’re spending daily and weekly to get an average and then times that number by 4. For example, Let’s say you spend about 10.00 per day - well that’s 70.00 per week -280 month. Let’s say you blow about $100 on the weekends - then you’re looking at about 400.00 per month.

Once you have your monthly averages for both time and money you’ll want to start thinking about what you’re going to do once you quit.

Starting with time - this is huge. At first, you might feel like doing nothing and that’s perfectly normal and we’ll talk more about that in our detox lecture but overtime you’re going to start to realize you have more time than you thought! For this lecture I want you to think about how you’re going to be spending your free time when you’re not high or thinking about getting high. It can be something as simple as being more present with my family at home or something more like training for a marathon or taking up a hobby you’ve always wanted to try. Whatever it is, write it down and start thinking today about how you’re going to achieve that.

Next, you’ll start to think about the money you spend. If the money you spend on cocaine is extra money you have laying around then think about how you might spend that money a little differently now. Maybe you’ll spend it towards your new hobby, maybe you’ll buy some new clothes or a gym membership. Use it for yourself in ways that will help you feel better.

The biggest thing that I hear though is how people who quit their addictions thought they would have more money but instead they feel just as broke or they don’t see any extra money laying around - if this is you - this is common. Here’s what’s going with that;When you partake in any addiction, specifically substances, you’re going to do whatever it takes to find money to buy your drug of choice. Chances are though - other areas financially have suffered while doing so - maybe you didn’t pay your credit card bill or your car payment. Once you stop using cocaine, you start using your money for where it’s meant to go and you don’t realize how much you’ve been neglecting your finances. May you get paid and instead of blowing $40.00 you made a car payment on time. So think about your financial wins while working through this. It may seem gradual and very subtle but every little win should be celebrated with pride.

Alright so you have some work to do here in taking inventory. Once you’ve done that, go to the next lecture and we’ll talk about setting a quit date.

Hi again. Welcome back. Now that you’re thinking about the future and how this will all work out, it’s time to start thinking about your quit date. You see with a cocaine addiction you will need at least 7 days to fully detox. Think about detox, which we will talk more about in a later lecture, like a flu or an illness. The first 3 days, being the worst with possible remorse or depression. YOu may have a really hard time adjusting your sleep patterns too. It’s not uncommon for the body to try and play catch up and you may find yourself sleeping for long periods of time during these first few days. And then it will take a few days to just feel functional.

So, with that being said, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to perform your regular work and family duties. Therefore, you’ll need some time off. If you have to lie to get the time off work then lie but you’ll need a week so don’t think you can just call in sick for one day. Hopefully your family will be supportive and let you detox but if that’s not the case then perhaps you will need to plan around some things. For example, if you have a family vacation or wedding, or the CEO is coming to your workplace, then those things might not be the best times to stop. You’ll need to find your freest possible week and go from there.

Once you look at your calendar and figure out the best time, then I want you to tell anyone you can that knows about your addiction so they can support you and hold you accountable. The thing about telling other people is that it’s a lot easier to let our own selves down sometimes than it is to let our loved ones down.

Hopefully this will motivate you to keep your word. AT least it will give others some insight as to why you may not feel well during the time of detox. Okay so after this lecture, pause the course and set your quit date. When you come back, we’ll get you all set up so you can start your detox. See you soon.

As you get ready to quit cocaine forever, it’s important to fully prepare yourself for all possibilities. Many of my students have stated that in the past they felt like they were prepared but as they started to progress in their recovery, they realized they weren’t prepared at all. So let’s talk about how to organize your living space to reduce the likeliness of having a trigger.

This isn’t to say it’s going to be a walk in the park and you’ll never be triggered - I’ll talk about what to do if you do get triggered a little later on in the course but this is just to help you so that you’ll have a better chance by not having as many triggers as you would had you not prepared.

I want you to look around your environment right now: what do you see? What does it feel like? What does it smell like?

There is some science behind your environment and how it makes you feel. You’re going to want to take some time to make your space feel different especially if you were using cocaine in your living space - essentially your entire home or room could be one giant trigger. But let’s make it different.

You can start by cleaning. Go through your home or your room or wherever you live and take a couple of hours and clean it from top to bottom. You’ll want to clean your kitchen, bathrooms, dust, vacuum, etc. Decluttering is also really important.

Now look around at your lighting. Try to get as much natural light as possible. The sun coming in your home will give you some natural vitamin D which will help with your physical body as well.

The other thing you’ll want to do is go through home with a fine tooth comb and get rid of anything that could potentially remind you of when you were using: especially paraphernalia. You’re here because you want to quit cocaine forever, so there is 0 point in keeping paraphernalia - make it ceremonial - burn it, flush it, whatever just get rid of it.

Then think of things like photos, music, or even kitchen spoons. Change things up for a while - make it so you don’t have to see those things that could potentially trigger you.

Okay so take some time doing that and in our next lecture, i’m going to talk to you about detox.

So you’ve set your quit date and you know how to get rid of triggers by changing up your environment. I want to talk to you first about what to expect during detox and in the next lecture I’ll talk about what to do on your first day.

Detoxing from cocaine is hard and I want you to know that it takes so much strength and courage just to make the decision to do this - if you’re here then I know you can work through it.

Prepare to detox for about a week. The very first day won’t seem so bad but the next couple of days after will be the worst. The most common side effect that we hear is having remorse - just feeling bad and starting to second guess your decision to do this. Just know that this is a normal feeling and it will pass.

The good thing about detoxing from home and not a facility is that you are in control and it doesn’t have to be so awful and boring. Remember being a kid and being sick and getting to stay home from school? While yes it sucked being sick but it was kinda fun not having any responsibility and just being able to lounge around the house.

That's how I want you to think of next week. We talked about making sure you are able to take some time off. And while you will feel crummy I want you to give yourself permission to congratulate yourself on just doing this. Make it your own thing: it’s okay to be lazy this week. It’s okay to do nothing but watch TV or listen to music. It’s okay to just do nothing. Clear your schedule and clear your mind. This time is just for you.

On your quit day - I talk about stocking up on supplies so that will keep you busy on day 1. After that - you got this! If you feel like you can’t do it and you want to use then reach out to our community here in the Q&A - you know we all have you back.

Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water, eat some healthy food and try to get out as much as you can, weather permitting enjoy the fresh air - take long walks. You deserve to have as much peace as possible as you go through this. See you in the next lecture where I will talk to you about what to on day 1.

Okay so your first day - the day you take the plunge - it’s exciting because you know your life is changing but on the other hand you might be a bit nervous about what to expect. We talked in the last section about detox and chances are you won’t feel a lot of symptoms right on your first day. So this is a perfect opportunity to work through some more lectures and be as productive as possible.

Maybe do some grocery shopping, get a workout in and prepare yourself. You’ll want to use today as a time to stock up on things that might help you feel better over the next week: magazines, books, new music, movies, healthy snacks, etc.

The next few days after this - I want you to remember to just take some time to connect with yourself - it’s going to feel a bit crummy but you can do this.

Give yourself permission to relax after today. With that being said - let’s wrap up this section and then we’ll move right into talking about your physical health.

That’s it for this section. We talked about setting your quit date, getting rid or triggers, how to go through detox  and what to do on your first day! I hope you’re excited to continue on. We’ve got a lot more to talk about for you to be able to kick your addiction for good. I’ll see you in the next section.

The way you treat your body while fighting an addiction can be critical in your ability to reduce triggers and how you manage your withdrawals. In this section we're going to dive deep into nutrition, Fitness, and sleep. Not only are we going to talk about why your physical body needs to be taken care of but I am going to give you some solid actionable items you can start doing right now to get yourself on the healthy body bandwagon. Let's get started.   

When you are addicted to Cocaine it's likely you haven't been eating right. When you're high on Cocaine you're not hungry and don't eat but when you come down you're starving and more than likely eat a lot to make up for what you weren't getting when you were high.On top of not eating the right portions at the right time it's likely you haven't been paying close attention to the quality of food you're getting either. Let's talk about both those things.

The reason you need to pay close attention to your food is because when you're fighting an addiction like this you can't just quit and eat crappy food and expect to feel good - what you put into your body makes a huge impact on how fast and well you will beat this addiction.

You're probably wondering how to get started. The first thing you need to do is make a food log - get a baseline of where you're at in regards to what you eat and when you eat that way you can start to make little changes each week.

A lot of my students prefer to follow a nutrition plan because that can take the thinking part out of it. - find one you're interested in and follow it!

If a nutrition plan isn't for you that's okay too! Here are some tips to get better nutrition:

• Get rid of sugar - sugar addiction is real and no joke

• Make sure you're getting lots of veggies - make fruit and veggie smoothies daily

• Make sure you're getting plenty of protein: nuts, beans, etc.

• Eat the right portions. Don't eat too much - a serving is the size of your fist

• Eat at the right times: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and maybe a snack

• Avoid processed foods - if it's in a can it's not good for you.

After a few weeks of solid clean eating you'll start to feel better not just from kicking your Cocaine addiction but from treating your body well with the foods that are healthy for you.

Now you’re thinking about ways to improve your nutrition. Another piece to this pie is your fitness. Now this isn’t a weight loss - let’s see the results type of lecture. This is aimed purley for those who are struggling with a cocaine addiction - a way to get your body to a healthy and normal state.

If you’re already pretty active then you’ll just need to make sure you’re active enough and doing the right types of physical activity. If you’re not very active or don't’ currently exercise at all, don't’ worry, that’s normal, especially when dealing with a cocaine addiction.

So where do you start then?

To begin with, starting today, recognize where you are at with your fitness. How much do you really walk? How many hours per day are you keeping your body moving?I recommend keeping a journal and just noting down where you are starting.

The next thing you’ll want to do is establish some goals. You may have already been thinking of fitness goals and if you have that’s wonderful. If not - no worries. I’m here to help.

Some people need a jumpstart because they feel lost when thinking about fitness or goals and if that’s the case, I highly recommend a fitness program of some sort. It can be an at home-workout program, it can be a program through your local gym or maybe you join a fitness class like crossfit or zumba. Maybe you research some fitness apps and try one that sounds interesting to you. Now is the time to try something you’ve always wanted to try. Make the investment - this is your health, your body, and you deserve to do this!

Typically by joining a program - there are ways for you to set fitness goals.

If you’re not into a program or signing up for one that’s okay too!

However, you need to start tracking your fitness to make sure you’re not complacent. For you to obtain the best possible outcome you need fitness in your life.

If you have a fitness tracker that’s ideal as you can set goals through there whether it’s more steps throughout the day, longer runs, longer walks, etc. But most importantly is that you set goals to increase your fitness every single week. For example, let’s say this week your goal is to just get up and move every single day. That’s a great goal! Whether it’s walking, running, biking, etc. Do it every day!Then maybe next week you add some pushups or situps or maybe you walk or run further.

However you do this - just make sure you are taking your physical self seriously. You need optimal nutrition, fitness and sleep in order to achieve your sobriety and recovery goals. Speaking of sleep, let's jump right into that. See you in the next lecture.

Sleep is often the hardest thing to get under control when dealing with a cocaine addiction. Given the circumstances, it’s understandable to feel like you’re all over the place - maybe sleeping too much during the day, not sleeping well at night, getting too much or too little sleep. Let’s talk about how you can get a better night’s sleep.

Eventually you’re going to want to aim to get around 8 hours of interrupted sleep every night but that’s not going to come immediately. You need to retrain your body how to sleep.

To begin with, figure out your current sleep patterns. Take note of what time you are going to bed and what time you’re waking up and how much you’re sleeping in the day. From there, you’ll want to gradually adjust your bedtime and wake up each day to get to a 7-9 hour goal.

For example, if you currently go to bed at 2am and wake up at 8am - you’re not getting enough sleep. A lot of people may feel like 6 hours is enough but science has shown that most bodies need 7-9 hours for their brains to fully repair itself each night. Since your sleep has likely been so out of whack, it’s even more important that you work towards that 7-9 hour goal and continue to sleep 7-9 hours even after you’ve kicked your addiction.

So how do you do this? Glad you asked.

Once you’ve taken inventory on your own sleep then work backwards. You likely know what time you need to wake up every morning. Let’s say it’s 7am. You’ll know that eventually you’ll need to go to bed somewhere between 10:00pm and midnight. Let’s say you currently go to bed around 2am. Each week you’ll want to set your bedtime back by about 15 minutes until you’ve reached your goal - but remember to keep your bedtime the same.

In addition to that, there are some things you’ll need to do as well in order to get better quality sleep and be able to fall asleep faster.About 30-60 before bed you should create what I call a bedtime ritual. This is time you should be carving out every evening so that you can take good care of yourself without the use of any screens. You can do things like yoga, read a book, meditate, journal, etc. Just make sure it’s calm and relaxing. If you enjoy tea at night be sure it’s caffeine free.

If you have a problem staying asleep then look at things like your caffeine intake and maybe adjust that to stop caffeine earlier in the day. While you work on getting onto a good quality sleep schedule it’s important to be patient and give it time.

If after about 12 weeks of working hard on your sleep schedule, combined with good nutrition and fitness, you’re still not able to sleep we’ll, then you should contact your doctor to talk about ways and alternatives - there might be some sort of underlying issue that is causing you to sleep too much or sleep too little.

Good luck with your sleep.

That’s it for this section - we talked all about your physical health.

You should be planning and thinking seriously about the way you eat, sleep and exercise.  

It’s very important to start making solid steps to changing your habits.

It’s tough but I’m proud of you for sticking with this entire section as it’s an extremely important component.

Take your time with this as change doesn’t happen overnight but I promise you if you stick to physical plan and the etnire course - you’ll notice results quickly.  

Great job now let’s move on to talking about your psychological health. See in you in the next section.

Welcome to the next section - Psychological health. In this section we’re going to talk about your mental health, spiritual health and how to regain your confidence by living intentionally. Let’s get started.

There’s this thing in the addiction community called the chicken or the egg theory. We talk about this when we talk about co-occurring disorders. A co-occuring disorder is when someone is diagnosed with a mental health disorder as well as a substance use disorder. The reason we call it the chicken or the egg theory is because many times we don’t know what came first. Think about this for a moment.

Did you start using cocaine to escape from something or to band-aid a mental health disorder such as depression or anxiety? Or did using cocaine cause you to struggle with a mental health related problem?

If you were already struggling with a mental health disorder then it’s important that you treat that at the same time. You’re going to need the help of a mental health professional. If your cocaine use caused you to have a mental health disorder then it’s possible that it would resolve itself once you stop the cocaine use however it’s still important to address this at the same time.

While this course is about treating your cocaine use, it’s not a substitute for mental health care. If you suspect you're struggling or if you know you have a mental health disorder then you should call and make an appointment to see a mental health professional such as a counselor or therapist right away. Please don’t think your mental health will magically get better on it’s own.

If you’re unsure about where you stand then I recommend taking this course in its entirety and following through with everything for 30 days. If you’re still struggling with your mental health then you’ll know you need to make an appointment.

The bottom line is that your mental health should never be ignored. Always make it a top priority.

Spiritual health is not to be confused with religion. You may or may not be religious and that’s okay.

When struggling with addiction a spiritual loss occurs. The official definition of spirituality is the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.

Everyone has something to offer the world and while it may take a while for you to uncover your true potentials, you are closer now than you ever were. I want you to be sure to take time every single day to reflect on the type of person you want to be.

Think of ways you can help and what do you have to offer? I don’t mean materialistic things because spirituality is not about how big your house is or what kind of car you drive. It’s more about your ability to understand that there is more to life than money, sex, and material things.

Being able to train yourself to be more empathetic and compassionate is a great start and then overtime you will start to see that there is something greater for you.

A good way to start the spiritual process or get back into it is to meditate every day. You can find a meditation app or go to youtube. But taking time every single day to reflect and connect with your inner soul will be so liberating and beneficial to your recovery.

This is our last portion of the psychological health section and for this let’s talk about living intentionally and by doing so you’re going to start to regain your confidence.

Intentional living is basically how you live your own life based on your own values and beliefs. I’m not here to tell you how to live your life but I am here to help you recognize some of your own deep down intentions.

There are four things you can do right now to start living intentionally.

Work on goal setting, journalling, determine your core values, and setting routines.

First, when I talk about goal setting, I want you to think of one goal big or small that you have for your life and write it down on. I know that seems incredibly broad but think of something you’ve always wanted to do or maybe a way you’ve wanted to be. This can be as simple as not using cocaine today or as broad as traveling the world. Something that you can work on this week though. You’ll hopefully be setting goals every week, not just for this course here but it’s something I hope you continue to do every week. Let me give you some examples.

Example: “I want to be more kind.”

So for this, you will put that as your goal and every day this week, living intentionally, you would aim to be the kindest person you can possibly be. Be mindful of every interaction you make.

Example: “I want to have a better relationship with my mom.”

For this, maybe you would send your mom a text on Monday and call her on Wednesday. Or perhaps go see her on Friday.

Example; “I want to take a vacation to egypt

For this, maybe on Tuesday you would work out the cost of this trip and then on Friday you would work out how much money you would need to save in order to make this trip happen. You get the idea!

Now let’s talk about journaling. When you live intentionally, it’s important to get your thoughts out. YOu can do this with a traditional pen and paper which is what I prefer or if you’re not into that think of maybe starting a blog or just typing on your computer. Part of journaling can also be goal setting. Just start writing.

Then when I talk about setting your own core values here’s what I mean. To do this; take some time to think about what kind of person you want to be. How do you want to live your life? Everyone will have their own ideas on this and you don’t have to make a giant list. I have a friend who believes her sole purpose in life is to be kind and that’s it. So every thing she does every single day comes from kindness. Some people want to live their life being empathetic or compassionate or your core value might be love, respect, honesty, loyalty, etc. Whatever it is, write about in your journal and start to intentionally live by those values every day.

Nobody’s perfect, so don’t get down on yourself if you find yourself making choices that don’t align with those values. You can fix it once you recognize it.

And last,I want you to think about your daily and weekly routines. If it helps, make a schedule, use google calendar, and whatever helps you stay organized and stick with those routines. Take time every week to set goals, to journal, to meditate and so on. Setting routines is a good life skill and shouldn’t stop when you feel like you’re solid in your recovery. This is something that will help your productivity immensely throughout your entire life. YOu’ll be surprised how many things you’ll be able to accomplish just by sticking with a routine.

Okay so to recap; to live intentionally you should be working on these four things every day:

Goal setting, journalling, living by your core values, living by routines. After a few weeks of really working through this your confidence with not just not using cocaine but your overall confidence with your life and your future will shoot through the roof. You got this.

That’s it for the section on psychological health. We talked about your mental health, your spiritual health and living intentionally. Your psychological health is so important so please don’t forget this piece of the pie. Be sure to work on all of the actionable items I’ve been discussing. Next, we’re going to talk about your social health. See you there.   

Moving right along! Now that we’ve talked about how you can take care of your physical health and mental health, let’s dig deep and talk about your social health. In this section, we’re going to talk about your family, friends and professional relationships. Let’s get started!   

Your family’s involvement in your recovery could make or break whether or not you are able to fully kick your addiction forever; why? Because more likely than not family is there forever.

Oftentimes, addictions stem from unresolved childhood issues but not all the time. It’s important to know if this is your case or not. If you have suffered from childhood abuse or neglect, you more than likely started using substances as a way to escape the pain you deal with every day.

The first thing I want you to think about is whether or not something from your childhood may have contributed to your cocaine addiction. If it has, it’s time to really work through what happened, how it happened, and who was involved, Some people can work through these issues on their own while others may need to seek professional help from a mental health professional.

Now regardless of whether or not you have unresolved childhood trauma or abuse it’s also important to analyse your current family situation. When I talk about family I’m talking bout anyone who is related to you and that has a major part in your life.

Your addiction has likely caused family chaos. So today, I want you to start thinking about your family in two groups: Those who support you and want you to get better and those who are. Unsupportive and may be causing you to not get better.

In the first group, over the next few weeks, I want you to start thinking about ways you can strengthen your relationships in an actionable way. In the second groupL I want you to start thinking about ways to distance yourself. Until your are solid in your recovery.

So how do you do this?

For strengthening relationships, make a list, prioritise, those most important to you at the top and then work down. Next to each name I want you to write about what you can do or say every day to help get you back on track to earn their trust.

For example. Let’s say your husband is first on the list.

You might say to strengthen your relationship you will communicate clearly every day about your success, show him how dedicated you are to your recovery by not using cocaine and aking active steps each day towards making your recovery strong - like taking this course.

Let’s say it’s a family member that doesn’t live with you but you want to strengthen your relationship with them. For example your mom: you might make a note to call your mom 4 times per week to check in, be honest about where you’re at with your recovery, and make a plan to visit every week so she can see exactly how far you are coming.

Now let’s talk about those in the second group; those who don’t support you or those who may have made your addiction worse. If possible, it’s time to take a break on your relationship with them until you are stronger and can work through the tough things that have happened.

To do this: it’s important to set strong boundaries. If you say something truthful yet timid you leave room for arguing or negotiation. This process should be non-negotiable.

For example, if you say, I’m really sorry but I need some time to focus on my recovery right now. Do you mind if we take a break for a while I do that?

You leave the door wide open for someone to argue against why this would be a good idea.

Instead, you should say: I am focusing on my recovery right and I need time and space. I will contact you when I’m ready to talk. Be firm, direct and don’t leave any room for interjections. If they do interject then be firm again and again until they get the picture. If they still don’t get the picture after about 3 tries then it’s perfectly okay to stop the conversation. Some people have to go as far as blocking phone numbers and texts, If your family respects your decision then you’ll know that once you are stronger and further into this process they may be someone you can reach out to later. If they don’t respect your decision you’ll need to think long and hard as to whether or not this relationship is worth continuing.

Now that we’ve talked about family - let’s talk about friends.

Unlike family, your friends are the people that you have chosen over the timespan of your life. Some of you may have childhood friends that are still your friends now and some of you may have friends that you have just met. Either way, let’s talk about how to approach the friend situation.

The very first thing you want to do is make a mental list of friends that you use cocaine with or have used cocaine with. Also note those friends who were not your friends before you started using cocaine and the only started to become friends after you started using cocaine. For example, let’s say you started to use cocaine 2 years ago and 2 years ago you met a friend at a party and you both were using cocaine. OVer the past two years you two have become friends.

Now I want you to think about what your friendship would look like outside of cocaine. It’s normal to gain friendships and bonds over drugs and I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever be friends with them but if they’re still using cocaine and you’re trying to stop then staying close to them is a bad idea, for now anyway.

Also, I want you to think about those friends who bring toxicity to your life - we talked about toxic relationships in the family lecture but know that you can also have toxic friendships too. Those are also people you’ll need to take a break from.

On the flip side, you may have friends who don’t use cocaine and have always been there for you. These are friends you’ll want to hang on to and it will be important to start to rebuild relationships and trust with those friends. How do you regain trust? Two ways: not using (this takes time though) and being a kind and considerate friend. Remember, it’s not always about you so take a genuine interest in their life too.

Okay so let’s recap:When it comes to friendships you’ll need to distant yourself or completely walk awayn from people who:

1. You use or have used cocaine with

2. Friends who are toxic and are constantly making you feel like you want to use cocaine

You’ll want to make sure you stay friends with those friends are good for you - those who show you support and to do that you’ll want to :

1. Not use - remember actions speak louder than words

2. Be a kind and considerate friend.

See you in the next lecture when we talk about professional relationships

As we continue our section on social health we are going to now talk about professional relationship. You know what to do with your family and now your friends what about those who you go to school with or those who you work with?

First things first, if there are any co-workers or school colleagues that you use cocaine with you’ll need to distance yourself immediately. The best thing to do is to be honest - if you feel like it may have an impact on your professional relationship you don’t have to go into full details, you can just let them know that for health reasons you’re simply taking a break.

Now, depending on how long you’ve been using cocaine you’ll have to understand that this is going to affect your work or school. In the beginning it may feel like your productivity is going down, you may feel slower, sluggish, etc. this is completely normal! The good news though is that if you follow this course and really do a good job of working through and taking action on all of the lectures, in the end you’re going to come out of this feeling much better than you ever did even before you started using cocaine. This period of time can take anywhere from 1 week to a month. If it takes longer, then I talked about in some of the previous lectures about when you should see a doctor.

Just think though - once you’ve gotten through the withdrawal and your body gets back to it’s baseline self you’re not going to have the stress of wondering when the next time you can use it and the stress of coming down or going through withdrawal. Your work or school performance return a baseline and then start to increase from there.

It’s a good idea, if you can swing it, to take some time off in the beginning, If you can call in sick or even schedule some time away that might help get you through that initial 30 day period. If you can’t that’s completely understandable. Just make sure that you’re taking time for yourself each day, dedicated time to work on your recovery.

If people start to notice a change in you or your performance, think of things you can say beforehand - you had a personal emergency, you’ve had a lot on your plate, etc. but always follow it up with letting them know that you’re going to get back on track right away.

That’s it for our section on social health. Now you should have a better idea on how to approach your family, friends and professional colleagues. Now that we’ve talked about your physical, psychological and social health, let’s talk about  what to do now that you’re not using - how to manage triggers and so on. See you in the next section.   

We covered a lot in this course and hopefully now you’re on track to take charge of your cocaine addiction by taking care of your physical body, your mind, and also your social surroundings. But what happens next? We’re going to talk about how to manage triggers and post acute withdrawal  before we wrap up this course. I’ll see in the next lecture.   

Now that you’ve gotten the tools you need to manage yourself physically, psychologically and socially what happens next? Well let’s first talk about the inevitable; triggers.

You’re going to be triggered often, more often in the beginning but rest assured, over time you’ll find the triggers to be less and less. But just saying that doesn’t help you right here and right now - when you get that trigger later today or tomorrow. So let’s talk about what to do.

Remember earlier in the course how we talked about getting rid of things that might trigger you? Hopefully you’ve done that already and if you haven’t you should make sure to revisit that lecture in the beginning of the course. But even getting rid of things that might trigger you it won’t stop them all together - but just know this is a normal part of the process and the more prepared you are the better the outcome.

What you’ll need to do is to make a list of things you can do when you feel triggered and post it somewhere or document these things in an easy to access place like your phone. For example you might put things like:

1. Call a friend or family member

2. Go for a walk

3. Go shopping

4. Workout

5. Take a shower

6. Ride your bike

Make this list and make it interesting, easy and fun - you can even put simple things like watch TV, listen to music or even sleep.

You’ll need to have a mix of things on there: long and short and depending on how the bad the trigger is will direct you to what activity to do. For example, if the trigger is relatively small and you know you can get over it pretty fast you might just go for a short walk. If the trigger is a big one you might need to get yourself out of the house for a while - force yourself to workout or go swimming.

So go ahead and start your list now and I’ll see you in the next lecture when we talk about Post acute withdrawal syndrome.

So we talked about the real withdrawal and how that’s going to feel physically. We talked about what to do if you feel triggered but something else is going to happen. There are going to be times where you are going to feel like you in withdrawal all over again.

Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome PAWS for short, is a term used in the addiction field to describe withdrawal symptoms after your body has already physically withdrawn. It’s important for you to know this is going to happen so that you’re not caught off guard. For those who don’t know it’s going to happen, it can be scary and oftentimes a huge trigger followed by a relapse. If you know this is going to happen, you can prepare yourself for it and know what to do when it happens.

PAWS can happen at any time for any reason. Basically, you are going to feel like you are going through a physical and emotional withdrawal all over again. You may feel anxious, uncomfortable, have insomnia, feel depressed or in a low mood. When this happens there are things you can do to help relieve some of the symptoms.

First, don’t try to fight it. It’s important to recognize the symptoms and try to relax and be patient.

After you have recognized this is happening, you can then try and do something to take your mind off of things. LIke try going outside for a walk or watch a funny movie. You may even want to try and take a nap if possible. Brainstorm on what activities you can do when this happens. The good news is, if you learn to recognize the symptoms and you can train your body and mind to relax, the symptoms generally don’t last too long. The bad news is, many people report having PAWS for up to two years post quitting.

When we talked about what to do when feeling triggered the same things might be used when you feel like you’re going through PAWS or you might want to think of more extreme things. Like instead of a hot shower to help you relax, a cold shower might help you snap out of it. I hate using the phrase snap out and I mostly don’t use it but what I mean by snap out of it is to shock the body so to speak. If you can go sit in a sauna or go for the fastest run around the block. - time yourself and keep trying to beat your previous time until you feel confident that you're fully prepared to tackle the rest of the day.

Remember PAWS can lead to triggers and triggers can lead to relapse. So if you catch it soon enough you’ll be in a much better position than not knowing what to expect.

So go ahead and pause the course now and take some thinking about how and what you can do when PAWS hits.

Welcome to Day 1 of 30 days to sobriety success! We're talking nutrition and healthy eating + how it impacts recovery.

Mastering your mental health is day 2 of 30 days to sobriety success. The ability to regulate thoughts, emotions and staying mentally strong is what sets you up for long term success.

Most people don't realise just how much their family impacts their chances of a successful recovery. This is day 3 of 30 days to sobriety success.

Setting a quit date - is it really that important? YES! Find out why in day 4 of 30 days to sobriety success.

Ugh! The gym. It's the worst for most people but fitness is really important to a successful recovery. So, what can you do? Watch day 5 of 30 days to sobriety success.

Developing a deeper spiritual practice has been shown to support your addiction recovery journey. Watch day 6 of 30 days to sobriety success to find out more.

Sometimes your friend group can actually be really bad for your sobriety. Find out who the good friends and bad friends are and what to do about them in Day 7 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success.

Does everyone relapse? What you need to know! This is day 8 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success.

Did you know that work can be a major reason for struggling during sobriety? It's true! Welcome to day 9 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success.

You made it! This is day 10 of 30 days to sobriety success and we're talking about people, places and things. You're going to love this one!

Sleep. We all need it and chances are you aren't getting enough of it. But... did you know it impacts your sobriety? Watch more in Day 11 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success.

Intentional living is a powerful, powerful thing. It gives you complete dominion and domain over your life. Something you DEFINITELY need in sobriety. Day 12 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success.

If you want to succeed in being sober for the long term you have got to learn how to manage triggers like a FRIGGIN BOSS. You're watching day 13 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success.

What on earth does H.A.L.T. mean and why should you be paying attention to it? Find out in Day 14 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success

Wait...why does keeping your home clean make any difference to your ability to get and stay sober? Keeping your living space clean has plenty of benefits. Let's dive in to 30 Days of Sobriety Success Day 15

Sugar. Look it isn't great for you under normal circumstances but when you're suffering from addiction it can be easy to succumb to its dangers. We'll talk through what these are in Day 16 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success

n Day 17 of 30 Days to Sobriety Success, we're examining the powerful activity of journaling. I really recommend to everyone that they journal regularly and here are some reasons why!

You've got to be mentally prepared and ready for sobriety. It's hard work to get and stay in recovery so preparing a strong mind is key to your success.

Reading is a powerful way to up your personal understanding of life. Reading also helps you feel better too!

One persons crisis is not the same as another. So, how do you get crisis support in times of need? Who can you reach out to when your sober journey is under attack?

There are lots of ways to get help with your addiction and online addiction recovery programs have exploded thanks to the pandemic. But will an online support program actually help you?

Like the title of this video says, sometimes you just want to connect with someone in person. If that's you, then you need to do what is necessary to make that happen. It's crucial for your recovery so make an effort to ensure it becomes a reality.

Money. It's critically important in todays society and very important for anyone in recovery. Get your finances in order so you can start making real progress on your life goals.

Everyone today wants instant results. Social media has fueled us to believe that we can get everything we want in a short time. However, going slow and steady is the foundation of recovery from drug and alcohol or even porn abuse.

Grief comes in many different shapes and sizes. People often feel as though grief is just relegated to the loss of a loved one or a pet. Grief is actually more complex than that so let's dig in and find out how it affects addiction and recovery.

It's time to talk about how to be sober around drunk people and enjoy it. It's a hard topic to cover but you need to know what it will be like when you are having to spend time around other people who may be partaking in your addiction and you are in recovery.

Sobriety can be a dangerous thing - sometimes you find yourself trading one addiction for another. Find out why that's a potential problem in today's video.

What is a dry drunk and how do you know if you are one? Here are some signs that you're actually dry drunk right now and what to do about it.

What's the point of being sober? We get asked this question ALL the time.

It's the final day of our 30 Days to Sobriety Success series and it's the most important one - TAKE ACTION! That's right - none of this means ANYTHING if you can't or won't take the action needed.

This meditation encompasses multiple areas: your physical health, your social health and of course self-love. If you enjoy this meditation then check out my course titled, "Meditation for Addiction and Recovery."

Congratulations! You’ve reached a huge milestone and you should be very proud of the progress you’ve made and will continue to make. Now that you’ve finished the course, you should go start to implement all of the strategies that we’ve been talking about. You can continue to power through your recovery by going back to certain lectures if needed, posting in our Q&A forum and joining our closed Facebook group. Now that you’ve completed the course it would be helpful if you could give other students feedback or motivation - how did you do it, what strategies did you use to stick with it? As always, I’m here and available to answer any questions. Congratulations again!