[girvo]

Used to be all the time, which is one of the factors that lead to my heroin addiction at the age of 16 until I was 22. Clean for five years now, and one of the key things for me has been cognitive behavioural therapy, along with having reasonably defined mid-term goals.

The other thing is not to beat myself up when I slip up; to use the "going to bed" example, if you miss your bedtime by 20 minutes and beat yourself up mentally, it's much easier to rationalise "may as well stay up another couple of hours, I've already ruined it".

Instead, let it go; this alone has helped me tremendously :)

[hugodahl]

Great advice on your point to not beat yourself up at slip ups. I was also advised to learn to forgive myself (it's seriously much more difficult than it sounds).

Also, major kudos on being clean for five years. While I can't relate to it, I can certainly appreciate the accomplishment that it is.

[yawz]

> The other thing is not to beat myself up when I slip up

Great advice! This is somewhat similar to what I observe about the things that people "want" to do but give up on easily as well. A good example is to go to the gym. Just because one's workout is an-hour long one has to give up on the gym if one has 50 mins. It takes time to form good habits. I always say "go to the gym even if it's for a 20-min workout today because tomorrow it'll be easier to go".