If you have an addiction, it can waste your time and leave your life empty of meaning and purpose. Instead of wasting your time on this, you can find a way to avoid addictive behavior by having a passion. Consider how to replace an addiction with a new passion.
How a New Passion Can Change Your Life
Having an addiction means you probably spend your life hanging out with people who aren’t good for you, lying a lot, and having financial problems, among other things. But just because you live the life of an addict now doesn’t mean you have to live this way forever. Indeed, if you have a passion you can spend your days doing activities that fill your life with meaning and purpose. This passion can take the place of your addiction. Every time you feel like drinking or doing drugs, get involved in your passion instead. Some benefits of having a passion are:
- Gaining meaning and purpose
- Boosting self-confidence
- Greater self-awareness
- Freedom from addiction
Figure Out What Your Passion Is
There’s a multitude of passions you can choose to pursue. Some examples are learning, animals, hobbies, health and fitness, love and relationships, and many others. For one, community service can be particularly rewarding and meaningful. Community service includes volunteering at an animal shelter, serving food at homeless shelters, cleaning up trash in parks, counseling teens with mental health issues, organizing community fundraisers, and more. Doing community service can encourage you to be positive and you can feel like a better person for helping those less fortunate. You can brainstorm ideas to figure out your passion by writing these down on paper.
Try Something New
If you can’t figure out what your passion is simply by thinking about it, it can be helpful to try something new. You can join a club, take a class locally or online, or do an extreme activity such as going skydiving with friends. No matter what, make sure the new experience you have helps you escape your comfort zone in a healthy way. Remember that it’s okay to have fun and enjoy your life. Other new experiences you can try are going for a bike ride in the country, taking a yoga or meditation class, writing a book, learning to juggle, or something else.
Make a Plan to Commit To
After you figure out your passion, you can create a simple plan by writing down your thoughts and ideas in a journal. For instance, if your passion is exercising to get fitter, you can write down small steps you can take to achieve this goal. Then you can use your journal to refer back to your plan.
Regularly Get Involved
The passion you have should make you want to get involved in it. For example, if your passion is painting, then you should genuinely enjoy this and paint on a regular basis. You can get involved in your passion by taking classes related to it, reading books about it, and socializing with like-minded people who share your passion.
Take Care of Yourself
Not taking care of yourself enough can make you want to go back to your addiction again. Rather than allow yourself to become negative, each time you feel down, try doing something to take care of yourself. This could be pursuing your passion or doing self-care activities. Ideas for self-care activities are spending time with a pet, being more spiritual, socializing with good friends, doing a creative activity, cooking yourself a comforting meal, reading for pleasure, or playing a game you enjoy, among others. Given these points, you can find better ways to spend your time than abusing drugs and/or alcohol. In fact, your time is so valuable you don’t even know how much it matters. Committing to finding a new passion and taking care of yourself can help you live a meaningful life. Ready to get started? Call us today at 833-497-3812!