How To Harness The Power of “Raised Necessity” To Overcome Opiate Addiction

This morning I received a message from someone on the Opiate Addiction Support Facebook page. A woman wrote that she had read many of my articles, done my online courses, and still couldn’t get off opiates.

She reached out to me asking for help, so I helped her.

And after doing so, I intuitively felt the need to write a short blog post on what I told her, because I’m sure there are many people suffering from her same dilemma.

Here is the gist of what I told her…

Raise Your Standards

Since I quit opiates six years ago, I’ve made personal development a huge part of my life. When I first got clean, the main mentor I studied from was Tony Robbins. I read his books, listened to his audio programs, and attended his seminars.

I learned a great deal from Tony Robbins, and to be quite honest, he is one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, I grew the cojones to become an entrepreneur and create this website and business.

One of the biggest nuggets of wisdom I learned from Tony was this:

We rarely get our “shoulds” in life, but we always get our “MUSTS.” He teaches people that the only way to make changes long-term is for an individual to raise their standards.

According to Merriam-Webster.com, the definition of standard is “a level of quality, achievement, etc., that is considered acceptable or desirable.

Some people have high standards for their lives, and others have low standards.

I remember when I first got off opiates, one thing that helped me feel better was exercise.

I began exercising on a regular basis to feel good physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, one of the side effects of exercising was that I got a pretty decent-looking physique.

I loved looking strong and healthy, and for many years, my standard was that I worked out 3-5 days a week at least, and I needed to be in great shape. That was just one of my MUSTS.

There are many people that keep saying they “should” start working out and getting in shape, but not a lot of people actually do it. It’s only a should for them.

How does this relate to overcoming opiate addiction?

To put it simply, you need to make getting off opiates a must, not a should.

And what’s the easiest way to make overcoming opiate addiction a must? You gotta do what Brendon Burchard teaches in his new book, High Performance Habits. You need to “Raise Necessity.”

Raise Necessity

As I wrote in the beginning of this piece, since quitting opiates six years ago, I’ve made personal development a huge part of my life, and I’m always reading extraordinary books on this subject.

A few weeks ago, I read a book called High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way, which is about the Top 6 Habits of “High Performers.”

High Performance Habit #3, “Raise Necessity,” is something that has helped me and countless others recover from opiate addiction. Author Brendon Burchard states that high performers are consistently raising the necessity of getting important things done in life.

I realized right away this habit could and should also be used by individuals wanting to overcome opiate addiction.

Here’s why…

My Raised Necessity to Quit Opiates

As I sit here writing this article for you on my laptop, I’m remembering how I was finally able to quit opiates after years of failing. No matter how hard I tried in the past, I could never quit opiates. I would set deadlines to quit, then I would make up excuses why I had to push the date back. I would rationalize that it was the right thing to do, but I was only lying to myself.

I continued to be addicted to opiates for years after I wanted to quit, until finally…something absolutely crazy happened.

Six years ago, during a cool fall evening in Southern California, I overdosed on opioids and Valium, and was 60 seconds away from dying. Fortunately, an EMT shot me up with naloxone, putting me into instant opioid withdrawal, and saving my life.

After I got out of the hospital a week later, I came home and realized the seriousness of what had just happened. Due to my addiction, selfishness, and stupidity, I nearly died, which would have left my 18-month-old daughter Willow without a father to raise her.

Fortunately, I got a second chance at life, and Willow still has a daddy. Here is a recent picture of her and I in Hawaii where we live. I absolutely love being a parent, and she’s the best thing that ever happened to me.

For many years in my 20’s, I did lots of drugs and drank gallons upon gallons of alcohol, and I partied my ass off with no care for my life or my future.

But now that I had a daughter whom I nearly left fatherless, I knew that it was time to grow up and start making good decisions from here on out.

Thus, my near-death experience changed me.

I vowed that I would never do anything to screw up my daughter’s life again. So as you can see, I had raised the necessity to quit opiates for good this time, and never relapse again.

How To REALLY Raise Necessity

It wasn’t about me anymore…and this is the key to really being able to raise your necessity to quit opioids and stay quit for the entire duration of your life.

Can you see why I was so motivated to quit for good this last time?

I had to raise my standards for my life and raise the necessity to quit because my daughter needed me. She needed a strong, confident, emotionally-balanced, intelligent father that could protect her, nurture her, and love her throughout her childhood, adolescence, and beyond.

So tell me, is quitting opioids a must for you, or is it a should? Is the necessity raised enough for you to do whatever it takes to quit? Who is counting on you to get off opioids? Who needs you to be strong for them right now? When you were a kid, what did you want to do with your life? I bet you didn’t have a dream to become addicted to drugs. How is opioid addiction holding you back from truly giving your gifts to the world?

I believe that we are here to learn, grow, love, and help others. It’s hard to accomplish these needs when we’re addicted to opioids.

Exercise: If you really want to take your life to the next level, get out a pen and sheet of paper, and fill in the blank.

“If I weren’t afraid, I would                                                                           .”

Now go and make it your life’s purpose and mission to go out and do the things you’ve just written down.

Set some new standards for yourself. Raise your standards in life, and decide right here and now that you will no longer tolerate a life where you’re stuck on opioid drugs when you don’t want to be.

Now raise the necessity.

For me, I never really cared about my own life too much, but when it came to my daughter, I had a HUGE reason to quit.

Often times people will do way more to help a loved one than they will do to help themselves. Who needs you to be the BEST you can be in life right now? Who are you letting down by being addicted to opioids?

Importance of Developing a Strong Mindset

I know I write a lot of articles on medications, supplements, and other things that can be used as opiate withdrawal remedies to help you reduce withdrawal symptoms, but guess what?

Without a strong mindset and a passionate desire to quit opioids, no amount of remedies will help you. And that’s the point I wanted to make with this blog post, as well as the point I wanted to make when I responded to the person’s Facebook message this morning.

The best thing you can do to overcome opiate addiction is have UNWAVERING FAITH that life will be way better after you get clean.

And along with this unwavering faith and positive vision of the future, you also need to downright HATE being addicted to opioids.

If you already have unwavering faith that life after opioid addiction will be grand, and you also hate being on opioid drugs, you’re well on your way to getting your life back. If you don’t feel this way, then start thinking about ways you can adopt these feelings and beliefs.

Opiate recovery is 80% mindset and 20% mechanics.

Work on your mindset, find the best detox plan for your unique needs, and move forward with unwavering faith and courage.

I look forward to seeing you on the other side, and when you get here, I hope you’ll tell me about your journey.

Please review this post!