[del677]

I am grateful by how many people have come forth with their own story of struggle with addiction, offering their support. These are the people who know better than anyone what it takes to recover, which is, each other.

It's why there are many groups, like AA, NA, etc., because when people feel they are a part of a group, people tend to relax, and that's the whole key to recovery.

Addiction is a stress induced disorder. Life becomes stressful, people seek relief. Drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc. They become learned coping mechanisms. Recovery is replacing that with other things which also reduce stress, like feeling accepted, being a part of a group, mindfulness meditation, which is all about focusing the mind, as a previous poster mentioned, smoking includes focusing one's attention, which is what meditation is all about. Same with yoga. Key is to mitigate stress, take a break from it frequently.

The good news, that makes me shed tears of joy, is you are not alone, as I see so many have already come forward to welcome you in, (because that's step 12 of the twelve steps. You are helping them in their recovery, by allowing them to help you.)