Motivation, especially when it comes to recovery, is a hard to apply. Let me explain myself. A person who drinks and uses enough to consider themselves addicted require than a notion to change. Just as they didn't wake up one day and decide to become addicted one doesn't sit on the coach and say they are going to quit.

The addictive mind, when in the middle of its disease, is elusive, deceiving and confused. Although a person says or feels they want to change and get some help it is not that easy. There are forces beyond their control that get them to "put it off" until tomorrow and guess what tomorrow never comes.

What needs to occur, and strange as it may seem, is the person needs some to happen that will stop them in their tracks. That something needs to have the affect of a 2x4 across the back of the head. It has to literally cause them to pay attention to what is going on around them rather than getting high to mask what is going on inside of them.

Does that sound strange? Well, when you think about alcoholism or drug addiction think about a disease that tells you that you don’t have it. If that’s the case, and it is then what can stop a person long enough to consider another direction? The direction change has to be 180 degrees. Anything less than that is merely a detour and they have been taking detours for some time now.

Whatever it is that occurs to them and gets them to stop for a moment must be immediately followed with a newfound motivation to go in that other direction. Remember though, going in the other direction creates the motivation not the other way around. Nevertheless, when a person who seemed despaired of ever recovering from their addiction finally realizes it is in the doing before they motivated, then and only then will they be motivated to do more.

The idea of waiting to feel motivated before they do something is an idea started by people who don’t want to do something. The reality is for everyone of us, especially those in the midst of their addition, is we take action first and then we will be motivated and that point we will be motivated to do more.

Robert Pardon is founder of becomingwellnow.com, a website that offers recovery information and solutions for alcohol and drug addiction. http://www.becomingwellnow.com/recovery_resources.html