Agree with a lot of the above...especially how each good thing initiates more good things. "Numerous good things" are re-training my brain's pleasure/reward center to experience motivation, enthusiasm, and pleasure without the interference of opiates.
For instance, I started off the day feeling crappy yesterday from withdrawal symptoms. I had a choice as far as the method to relieve my discomfort. Given that I had $1000, I could have done the usual (re-stock my supply and drive though whatever cheap fast food place if I got hungry), but instead I chose to pay two bills that were behind and also went to the grocery store to purchase real food.
After completing those things, although I was tired, I had removed several anxiety-causing stressors: no late bills looming over my head, no bill collectors calling, no monthly threat of having my phone service interrupted by waiting until the last minute to pay the minimum, and the discovery that (real) food tasted great after months of ingesting first-available (usually, processed junk).
I am realizing that a few simple things - probably obvious to most people as "good things" - I lost sight of and/or unlearned over the past few years.
To most, it's obvious that food tastes good, but it seems like that's something I had forgotten as a basic thing/behavior to feel good.
Also obvious, is that when there is a stressor present, the best way to remove it is just that - to remove it. Pushing it away without action, as small as it may be, will only make it grow and come back as more stressful - keep repeating and it comes back out of control, overwhelming, and unmanageable, leading to preventable (additional) stress/anxiety.
The opposite is true with people - if someone came around, I would feel "stress" and anxiety unless I was "ready" to face them (I would only feel prepared after taking certain chemicals, varying with the time of day) - I had a fear/paranoia that they would run the other way. Oddly enough, I had not felt that way since the awkward years of high school because I bounced back to the social world as soon as I started university. So, when my opiate use got out of control, I stopped reaching out and began pushing away. As a formerly social person, I found myself very alone the past few years. Now, I am finally feeling like I want to connect with people and make new friends.
I've been living in my current city for almost 5 years, but it's as if I just moved here as far as joining in the fun.
