Matt: What’s up, everybody? This is Matt, with Project Unbroken. And today, I wanted to talk about the Triangle of Relapse. This is basically what we have come up with for the three main reasons, for the three things that come together that really dramatically increase the chances of somebody relapsing. So the first part of that we put up top, is Return to Old Environment. So this is a big one. This is going back to the places that you used to go when you were in your addiction. This is hanging out with the people that you used to use with. This is anything that you could think of that would put you in a similar situation as how you are living when you were in your addiction. That’s a big one. That’s number one.
The second one we have here is a False Sense of Recovery. So, this was a big one for me when I first kind of started getting into my recovery. I would get a few weeks clean even, and I would be, “Oh, I can handle this. I’m good. I’ve gotten through the addiction. Now I can kind of just use a little bit to have fun,” or going out, “I am gonna use a little bit to take the edge off.” I would be immediately back into my addiction worse than when I started in the first place. And every time, just because I felt like I got through the physical withdrawal, I felt like, “Okay, I know that I don’t want to go through that again. I’m just gonna use this once, and then it’ll be an every-once-in-a-while kind of thing.”
This was before I understood the fact that I needed to make heroin or opiates, I had to have that not an option in my life anymore. So, a False Sense of Recovery where you just get a few weeks or even a few months away from your day-to-day use and think that you have everything under control. Usually, 100% not the case whatsoever.
The third one that we think is really important, and this one covers a lot of space, is No Blueprint for Recovery. So, this is a big one right here, because it can easily lead to the other two pieces of that triangle. So, if you have no blueprint for your recovery, you don’t have any healthy replacements in place, like maybe exercise, or meditation, or yoga, or anything, if you don’t have your support system set in place and you don’t have the force accountability, where your support system knows, hey, if they see me kind of acting strange or acting funny they’re gonna drug test to make sure that I just definitely don’t use, and I stay away from it.
If you leave yourself too many loopholes, you’re definitely gonna find yourself back in the old environment, back with a false sense of recovery, back to using again. And you see when you put these three things together, you almost don’t even stand a chance. It’s just too overwhelming. And when anything stressful comes up, you’re more than likely gonna fall right back into it.
So, the three things you really need to look out for, I’d say the big one, No Blueprint for Recovery. Make sure you kind of have an idea of how you want to structure this long-term, months, years, how are you set up? The second one, Return Old Environment, you have to understand, you can’t go back to those people, you can’t go back to those places, you can’t go back to that way of behaving. And then False Sense of Recovery. Don’t trick yourself. By now, you should know, don’t have a handle on this thing. You can’t get a few months away from it and fall right back in. You don’t have control of this really, at any point, especially When you think you do. That’s when you’re tricking yourself.
So guys, Triangle of Relapse, watch out for all these things. Watch out for one of them. They usually come together, but this is where we really find ourselves getting in trouble falling back in our old ways. Thanks for watching, guys. We look forward to talking to you soon. If you have anything that you want us to go over, as far as addiction, recovery, relapse, any of that stuff, leave us a comment or hit us up on our website at Projectunbroken.com. Take care, guys.
