The Routine I Follow Every Single Day For Alcohol Addiction Recovery.

I have written and spoken in depth about how one has to reinvent his physical and emotional plane of being once one ends his friendship with John Barleycorn. This is advice that I not only give those recovering from alcoholism, on their way to cure, but to anyone who finds himself at the lower levels of the abyss, usually in later than youthful years. There are those who may be doing very well career wise but find themselves in horrific shape in the physical and mental realm. And all the money in the world won’t give you vibrancy for life if you are waddling through that life sluggishly. If one wishes to advance himself, the foundation is physical health followed by emotional tranquility. These spheres will come together to enhance the spiritual plane—the completeness one feels knowing he is an integral part of the vast universe.

One item I picked up from the great motivational guru, Tony Robbins, is his philosophy of establishing daily rituals. Patterns of behavior designed to give success in life, whether in the realm of financial or holistic health. I have adopted a very ritualistic method I follow to advance all the planes of being.

The physical fitness routine is the one that takes time. For me, I spend an hour and forty-five minutes practicing Thai boxing and then lifting weights on a two days on, one off pattern. But I have said in previous articles, the physical fitness program can be accomplished in forty-five minutes to an hour, four to five days a week. An additional twenty minutes is added on these training days for the emotional program, which I describe as consisting of a regiment of tai chi, yoga or any type of sitting meditation. The physical and emotional workout feed off each other but in a positive way. It is truly the most effective method to minimize the protracted withdrawal symptoms, which can last up to two years. And the program will continue to serve as the foundation and frame of your new mansion; a structure that will have the strength in its set concrete and solid beams to last the rest of your life.

THE SMALL BOOK: HOW I BEAT ALCOHOLISM AND WHY ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS DOESN'T WORK

The rest of my rituals are not ones that take much time, they are merely habits. But these are daily habits that are focused toward constant advancement of Self. It is a warrior mindset that is constantly being fed by positive reinforcement. I will share my daily and weekly routine that I use to continuously sharpen the edge of my samurai sword.

First, let us contrast with the physical and emotional state you were in during that friendship with John B. If your remembrance is like mine, you were intoxicated every night and suffered the daily withdrawals the second you woke from a jittery and restless sleep. Coffee and Gatorade pushed you through the morning, you ate a half hearted lunch and felt like you were in a constant state of lethargy, pushing the last few hours before you hit the liquor store on the way home. All of us former alcoholics lived like this and it is a wonder that our bodies forgive us for the amount of damage we were doing to it on a daily basis.  

This leads to my contention with the Alcoholics Anonymous program. It is not a program of recovery. It is a program that is physically and emotionally unhealthy. For the rituals of AA are in stark contrast with mine. The ritual is to go to the meetings, many who continue to sit in the rooms have been sober for years and decades. That is complete nonsense. The ritual is to ingest unhealthy toxins like nicotine, caffeine and endless sugar cookies to help combat the cravings. There shouldn’t be many cravings once past the protracted withdrawal time if you are following a healthy program of diet and physical fitness activities. The ritual is to reprocess every night your life as an alcoholic. The ritual is to remind yourself that you are forever diseased and addicted.

Those rituals need to be discarded.

Once one has surpassed the forty-five day mark, which I refer as the completion of phase two in my created program, which ends in cure at two years, I state to begin the return to physical and emotional fitness. This is also where you establish patterns or rituals that serve as small additives throughout the day and week to keep your mental mindset in a constant state of pursuing greatness. They may vary slightly from person to person as we all have different interests and goals, but the basic structure of physical and emotional activities should be universal for all—whether former alcoholic or not. The rest are what I would call habits toward achievement.

As stated, I engage in intense exercise on a schedule of two days on and one off. I do this two on and one off regiment for mental motivation. For anyone over thirty years old will start to feel the chipping away of will to continue the path of physical fitness. Simply put, we start to get tired as we age. By forty, the only thing you will want to do after work is sit down in front of Netflix. This is where mental discipline comes to play. You develop a no negotiation mentality. Some will exercise every other day, which is fine as well. But the days you are scheduled for that run or Zumba class, you go.

Many mental obstacles will try to present themselves in your mind on why you shouldn’t go. One great motivational guru and former Navy S.E.A.L., Jocko Willink, calls this resistance. The weakness of the mind trying to give you excuses why that Netflix is a better option. I had a bad day at work. I had insomnia last night. It’s raining outside (but yet, not in the gym). The mind would love to just let the resistance stop you. But you aren’t going to feel any better tomorrow than today to exercise. One tactic I use is to lie down for twenty minutes and get that dozing trickle charge that gives me enough to get up and go towards the heavy bag but not enough to keep me from falling asleep that night when I return. This method that I have used for years I picked up from a fifty-seven-year-old national powerlifting competitor. I’ve added that to my rituals on the days I exercise.

But you have to engage in physical fitness, whether you are a morning exercise person or prefer after work. You make yourself do it and sit in front of Netflix on the days off. You simply put the program into your schedule of things you must do, those miles to go before you sleep. I do it in my fifties, when it is a guarantee there is never a day I feel like exercising at my now middle age. The other rituals I complete daily keep that routine steady.

The first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is take a cold shower for about three minutes. Yes, you heard me correctly. I do this ritual for a few reasons. One, to wake up. Two, the cold water is thought to strengthen the immune system. But there are emotional reasons I engage in this uncomfortable daily practice. The few minutes of unpleasantness remind me that the world is hard and others are suffering as well. Dwayne Johnson once stated that the first thing he does in the morning is find something in which to be grateful. As I dry off, I am grateful that I am not cold anymore. The few minutes of cold water sets my mind in the warrior mindset. I started with the cold shower. I will complete the rest of my tasks today.

My second task is five minutes of yoga and five to ten minutes of Zen meditation. An immediate shifting with the tranquility gear. Then a healthy breakfast and, yes, a cup and a half of coffee. One to two cups of coffee is fine in the morning. Living on it all day is not.

When I worked full time, the next ritual was simply going to work until lunch. And doing the best I could with my patients as a physical therapist. Then I made sure lunch was a healthy lunch. Also, throughout the day, I sip on a gigantic smoothie, created from a mixture of fruits, vegetables and natural juice. A constant flow of nutrients to the physiology. Lethargy is far less when you have the proper ions helping to conduct your neurological system properly. I rarely drink soft drinks and never those energy drinks that do nothing but eventually drop the person into the sluggish abyss.

After lunch, I do another five minutes of sitting Zen meditation. This will be enough to keep my mind mostly tranquil for the afternoon. I also check my short trading stocks, buying on the dips and selling on the bumps. Many times I only make twenty bucks. Sometimes there are no buys or sells and some days I make a hundred. But this activity always keep my mind in the realm of knowing with every profit, I am continuously progressing forward financially instead of just having the HR person keep my assets in a mutual fund of which I know nothing about. Another aspect of my life in which I have complete control.

The afternoon is spent like the morning—doing the best I can for my patients. Because of all those additives from the smoothie in my system, the after lunch lethargy is minimal. I allow one cup of coffee for the afternoon, then my caffeine quota has reached the limit for the day.

After work, I focus for thirty minutes on some hobby that progresses my life. For me, that has recently been studying Spanish or reading philosophy. Then I lay down and close my eyes for twenty to thirty minutes in preparation for the incoming workout. And that trickle charge technique works. Once I get up, the energy is renewed.

I go to the gym for about an hour and forty-five minutes. An extra forty-five minutes to my cardio program is strictly lifting weights, which I can’t give up as I am an old, long ago competitive bodybuilder as well as a Thai boxer. But you can get a perfectly fine workout in forty-five minutes to an hour in whatever cardio program you have picked. If I am feeling god awful, as we all do some days, I just slow down the intensity and practice slower form in Thai boxing. But I keep going. Once a month I take three days off in a row to recover and every six months or so I take a week off. Usually the first week of the year when the gym is packed with every New Year’s resolution, whose motivation will be vacant in a week or two.

After the gym, I drop my bag and do the twenty minute emotional program. I do a ten minute yoga routine, a five minute tai chi form and another Zen meditation session. I have a healthy meal and then right before bed, I do another five minute yoga series of stretches.

This is my routine. Yours should be the same in principal but not necessarily in detail. You don’t have to be a Thai boxer. Maybe you like speed walking or running. Or a mixture of elliptical, treadmill and exercise bike in fifteen minute segments. For the emotional program can you just engage in Qigong for twenty minutes straight instead of my far eastern mix? Sure. Maybe you hate smoothies. Can you just eat two salads a day? Why not? Maybe you aren’t learning Spanish but slowly getting your next IT cert. And maybe you start with a lukewarm shower before you try that cold water.

But the point is that you have established a program similar to mine that constantly enforces progression and positivity on all of your planes of being.

I have rituals for the weekends as well. Three out of four a month I go into nature’s arena. I hike into the mountains, even if it is after the gym. Or I go fishing. The outdoors has an emotional healing effect just in itself. Then on the fourth weekend I totally slug out. I watch that Netflix. I watch the Netflix on the nights during the week that I’m not scheduled for the gym as well. You have to give yourself downtime in the midst of this stringent ritual regiment or you will burn yourself out. And that downtime will recharge you to return to these daily rituals.

This can be your life, which if you follow my program, you will feel like you are truly living. And for former alcoholics, this is the path to reinvention of Self.

But you can’t do that if you are sitting in the rooms of AA most nights. I want the AA member to really think about this. You have the choice of two lives. AA’s life is you sit in a circle and talk about your terrible alcoholic past. You spend your off time smoking, sucking coffee and rehashing the steps. You are surrounded by people who are in a state of emotional disarray, which will absorb into you. You aren’t taking care of yourself in the fitness realm, which will keep the emotional sphere from progressing as well. And the worst of it is you will always view yourself as a forever addict.

Or you can have my life of constant positivity and progression. I am eighty percent retired and only contract infrequently now. But I follow the same pattern that I did when I was working more than not. I still start the day with that cold shower. My “work” are endeavors like this blog and other social media ventures. I keep consistent with the gym and on the rare times I do give into resistance, I get right back on the horse. I only have more time for meditation now which only increases its benefits. I will be pursing advancement in life until I can pursue no more.

But this is a pattern of rituals for holistic reinvention that you can use to recover from your days as an addict. If you follow this pattern of activities, you will find cure at the two year mark from your last indulgence. And you will continue to be that holistically recovered and cured person as I have now been for almost two decades, whose being will always be in a constant state of advancement.

To journey on a tale of epic transformation on a 2,660 mile trail check out: THE SHEPHERD AND THE RUNNINGWOLF: A PATH TO FORGIVENESS ON THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

(Usually free on KDP)

To recreate your life on all planes for the best version of yourself as possible:REINVENTION OF SELF: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND BEING FOREVER 

(Usually free on KDP)

For the condensed and orderly version of how I beat the addiction of alcoholism check out: THE SMALL BOOK: HOW I BEAT ALCOHOLISM AND WHY ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS DOESN'T WORK

(Usually free on KDP)

John Barleycorn taken from Jack London's book, John Barleycorn. First published 1913

Content opinion of creator only and not to be taken for medical advice.