Character's Goal (Outer Motivation): Overcoming Addiction
Forms This Might Take: Addiction can be tricky to define because it's similar in some ways to other kinds of compulsion disorders. For the purpose of this entry, behavioral addiction is defined as the overuse of a substance or practice that increases over time, continues despite negative consequences, and is incredibly difficult for the user to stop. While alcohol and illegal or prescription drugs are the most common things abused, others can also be addictive, such as nicotine, food, gaming, gambling, shopping, or sex.
Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): esteem and recognition
How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:
Taking a serious look at one's addiction (tracking usage and financial expenditures, journaling about one's feelings, examining the negative effects in various areas of one's life, etc.)
Purging one's home of the substances or items that make using easy or more tempting
Setting goals and coming up with a game plan
Exploring treatment options
Seeking therapy
Speaking to loved ones about one's desire to kick the habit as a means of garnering support
Attending twelve-step meetings
Cutting ties with negative influencersSeeking out new friends and contacts who are dedicated to sobriety
Identifying and avoiding triggers that will make it difficult for one to be successful
Reducing stressors in one's life
Engaging in activities or hobbies that will keep one busy
Throwing oneself into work
Becoming more spiritual; clinging to one's faith as a means of getting through the process
Adopting healthy mental practices, such as focusing on the positive, keeping a gratitude journal, or giving oneself plenty of time to find success
Finding others who have been successful and talking to them
Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal:
Experiencing grief over the loss of the activity or substance one has always enjoyed
Losing long-term friends or loved ones
Strained relationships with family members who doubt one's ability to change (particularly if one has failed repeatedly in the past)
The stigma that occurs when other people become aware of one's addiction
Losing one's job due to attending an in-house, long-term treatment program
Having to give up one's job or change careers in order to overcome one's addiction
Financial difficulties due to the cost of treatment
Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved:
Stressors and triggers that make success difficult
Pressure from other addicts who don't want one to change
Past wounds and negative emotions that become more pronounced once one stops medicating
Having no support system; having to go it alone
One's addiction of choice being inadvertently replaced with another one
Lacking the necessary financial resources
Being surrounded by other addicts and being unable to get away from them
Not being able to get the time off work needed for therapy or proper treatment
Unrealistic expectations from others or from oneself
Not looking realistically at one's addiction
Defeatist thinking patterns
Negative events (a death in the family, losing one's job, being involved in a serious car accident, etc.) that occur when one is trying to stop, making it even more difficult
Having to stop treatment early (to care for a loved one, attend a funeral, travel for work, etc.)
Talents and Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal:
Empathy, Multitasking, Reading People, Talents that help one focus on something other than the addiction (Baking, Sculpting, Musicality, etc.)
Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:
Broken relationships
Loved ones following in one's footsteps and being led astray
Long-term health issues
Depression and other mental illnesses
Suicidal thoughts and attempts
Harming oneself or others while under the influence
Bankruptcy
Losing one's job due to an inability to perform
Abandoning important passions and talents as one's addiction becomes all-consuming
Being ruled by doubt and self-loathing
Being unable to succeed in other areas due to one's lack of confidence in one's abilities
An inability to face and overcome the pain from the past, resulting in one not being able to move forward into wholeness
(Found on http://writershelpingwriters.net/2017/04/character-motivation-thesaurus-entry-overcoming-addiction/)
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