What is creation?

Creation is the answer to the question: "What am I going to do with my life now that I am clean and sober?"

But before you can engage the newcomer in creative efforts, they have to get through stage one recovery. This means that they have to establish a brief period of sobriety and find their footing before they can really start making progress with creation.

Getting through this first stage of recovery can be accomplished in several different ways. The most effective strategy for accumulating some initial clean time is to use overwhelming force. This means that the addict must go above and beyond what they think is necessary in order for them to stay clean. If they are going to 12 step meetings, they should go to 2 or 3 meetings each day instead of just one. If they are going to treatment, they should consider going to long term treatment instead of just doing a 28 day program. This is overwhelming force, and it works extremely well for getting people through the first stage of recovery. Without using this type of extreme approach, addicts are highly susceptible to relapse and most will never make it past 30 days clean. Using overwhelming force is the best way to increase these odds.

After an addict has established a few months of clean time, they are ready to transition into the creative life of recovery. This means that they are going to create a new life for themselves with real passion and purpose that can replace the drugs and the lifestyle that they used to be so passionate about. Creation is a replacement strategy that fills the void that is left when someone quits using drugs. It is not enough to merely stop using drugs and then return to life as normal. For most addicts, there is no "normal," and a new life must be created in it's place. This is the power of creation and it is necessary for long term sobriety.

There are 3 fundamental strategies in the creative theory. One is to care for yourself, in every way possible. The second is to network with others in recovery. And the third strategy is to push yourself to grow in different areas of your life. If you think about these 3 strategies, you will come to see that they are fundamental to any good recovery program. They are universally applicable and they work together to build healthy self esteem for the recovering addict. These 3 strategies can be used by anyone, even if they don't believe that the strategies will help at first. Just following through with them on blind faith will start to generate powerful results almost immediately, and a positive feedback loop will be created that promotes further use of the 3 strategies. This is the power of creation.