Hello everyone, my name is Devon and I am an addict of well over 18 years who is currently walking the long road to recovery. If you do not know me personally on here, I go by the pseudonym Lucky and am more well known in the Steemit communities as @terminallyill. When I had initially joined this platform, I had no interest in sharing my past experiences, namely my struggles with addiction and my daily battles in recovery. Some may call it shame, some may call it selfishness, but whatever you choose to call it, the fact is I made a decision to keep it to myself out of fear that it would destroy any chance I had on here at achieving any form of success. To me, being successful meant grabbing Steemit by the balls and making a shitload of cash, while I gained countless followers who supported my egotistical "mirage" that I was blinded into believing was my dream. Like everyone else damn near, I came for the money and my idea of being the best I could possibly be involved making it hand over fist. So, I did what a great deal of us do on a daily basis in order to "fake it til we make it". I kept my skeletons locked far away in the closet, solely to try to create this selfishly false political image of perfection while deflecting any negative thoughts people may have of me. I thought I knew what success was and what living was.... damn if I wasn't sadly mistaken.....
The entirety of my thought process as well as my journey on Steemit changed when my perspective of success changed. One day I had an epiphany that changed my life ultimately for the better and opened up doors that I had long chosen to keep barricaded closed. I realized that success does not have to be a selfish task controlled solely by my own gains and exploits on and off of this platform. I also discovered that I found a tremendous amount of wholeness and happiness in seeing others thrive and grow both personally and professionally. To me, being able to help my community grow in positive ways was more rewarding and self enriching than any payout I have ever received on this platform. Seeing others thrive and being able to count on me as a leader and mentor became what I now consider being successful. Here lately because of this change, I have been wearing my past experiences and downfalls as a badge of honor with one ultimate goal in mind, to see my fellow man break their shackles and overcome things in their lives that confine them to their own prison. In consideration of the fact that my background offers me various advantages in helping others overcome their struggles, I decided to do my part in helping rebuild the community as well as the lives of others. I began sharing my wisdom, insight and experience with the community, providing support for one of the most difficult struggles that we all face in some form or fashion, addiction.
I made a conscious decision a couple of weeks ago to fly my flag high and share some of my life experiences publicly, no longer being concerned with the political smoke and mirrors game so many other "leaders" on the Steemit platform dumb themselves down with. I decided to stop lying to myself and everyone else by embracing my personal history and embracing the fact that I can help change someone's life for the better. My interest in "looking good" to other people went out the window and my quest to share realism and truth had ultimately begun. To my surprise, a great deal of people supported my decision to tell part of my life story and surprisingly some had even stepped forward to address similar issues, finding their strength in my example. I realized at that very moment that I have a divine purpose within this platform that far outweighs everything else I have accomplished or done in the spirit of compassion. With this realization, I immediately set off to tirelessly work on creating something that will change the lives of any community members who choose to embrace it and support this community initiative. And so @breakthecycle was born.......
WHAT IS BREAK THE CYCLE? WHAT IS OUR MISSION?
Break The Cycle, or @breakthecycle, is a Steemit based community initiative founded by a recovering addict who is also an advocate for recovery within the real world and a selfless leader within the Steemit community. This initiative was formed with the purpose of providing support and resources to anyone within the Steemit community who is struggling with any form of addiction who sincerely wants to change their life and break the cycle of addiction. Break The Cycle was formed to help our community members who are struggling to recover from their addictions find various degrees of support, giving them the tools, knowledge and confidence that they need to begin their long and difficult journey on the road to recovery.
Unlike NA meetings or functions of a similar nature, Break The Cycle offers a truly compassionate and uplifting platform for an individual to stand upon when they are in need of emotional, mental and moral support, all from the comfort of their own home. By pairing up with our own server on Discord, Break The Cycle is hosting recovery oriented meetings similar to a conventional recovery meeting found within Narcotics Anonymous or any similar recovery group. From group meetings to one on one support, our goal is to help change and save the lives of our brothers and sisters in the community, one day at a time.
DOES BREAK THE CYCLE HOLD RECOVERY MEETINGS AND GROUP SESSIONS?
Yes, Break The Cycle does offer group meetings for addiction and recovery support that are open for anyone to participate in or just simply attend if they would like to "sit in" on a meeting to feel it out or observe. Being in the first stage of development, Break The Cycle is currently only able to offer meetings periodically through the week until we have finished building the foundation to this groundbreaking initiative. Currently, there will be interactive support meetings two to four days each week on our personal Discord server. Being on Discord allows Break The Cycle to utilize "voice channels" when doing a meeting, giving attendees the ability to join in on a voice chat and participate in the meeting by speaking, listening or both.
Ideally, each meeting will consist of two portions, each running roughly thirty minutes to one hour, depending on the amount of people in attendance and the planned schedule of the meeting. The first half of the meeting will typically consist of introductions, group interactions with each other, short activities, announcements and things of similar nature. The second half of the meeting is typically reserved for designated group leaders or guest speakers to utilize the voice channel the meeting is held in to speak in front of the group, typically telling their story of addiction or helping the group walk through certain activities such as workbooks and group studies. For the time being, this is the general structure of our group meetings, though it may be subject to change as we continue to build @breakthecycle.
WHAT OTHER FUNCTIONS CAN SOMEONE EXPECT FROM BREAK THE CYCLE?
Break The Cycle will also continually offer support groups in our Discord server across many different text and voice channels. There will be support from various members of the community touching base on topics such as drug use, alcohol use, gambling addiction , sex addiction, domestic violence and much more. The idea is to bring as many like minded SteemIt users as possible into the program, allowing Break The Cycle the opportunity to provide moral, emotional and mental support 24/7 across the platform for those people who are in need.
Aside from the individual rooms mentioned above, there will also be group leaders within Break The Cycle who are obligated to offer one on one support at any time we are available to the platform. Private meetings are just another way we provide confidence and comfort for our members that wish to engage in our support meetings in any fashion. As Break The Cycle grows, there will also be tremendous growth and changes to the program, adding new and exciting opportunities continually. Break The Cycle has plans to offer interactive weekend "retreats", educational webinars, live feed of community events and a plethora of other types of addiction recovery and support related events.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BREAK THE CYCLE?
Absolutely! First and foremost anyone interested in joining in should know and understand the most important rule and guideline to working with us or being a part of this initiative, that confidentiality is HIGHLY regarded and supported with ANYONE in the program. This means that what is said among us in our group or private discussions, stays between us. There is to be absolutely no disclosure of anything said or done within the workings of Break The Cycle UNLESS you have full permission to do such by the person from whom it was said or done. This is to protect each and every single person in here, provide unlimited support and more importantly to provide a place someone can come in complete confidence and comfort to offer up themselves freely without worry or recourse or gossip. Anyone who does not follow this most important of guidelines will be banned from @breakthecycle and our Discord server permanently in order to protect the remainder of our members and guests.
Aside from the golden rule, we also have basic rules to ensure that things run smoothly and efficiently, which can be found pinned into our Discord server. Some of these include showing respect to all other members and guests at all times, agreeing NEVER to judge another member or guest at any point in time, agreeing to NEVER deliberately offend another guest or user by attacking them or berating them in any form or fashion, respecting the speakers of our meetings by never interrupting them during a meeting, never slandering @breakthecycle or any fellow members, etc. These ground rules ensure that this platform is a safe haven for anyone looking to join in, offering a place to go even just to vent and talk without worry of someone judging, or worse.
Last but not least, membership to Break The Cycle is free for anyone to obtain by requesting it from one of our group leaders. Currently @terminallyill is the only group leader with the authority to add new, full fledged members to Break The Cycle, though this will change very soon as time allows us to grow the program and our outreach abilities. You also do not have to become a member in order to participate in our meetings or functions. If someone were to so chose to do so, they could join us every single day if they desired, as a guest of Break The Cycle, enabling them to participate and interact within the group just as anyone else. Though guests are limited to their activity within the group, membership with Break The Cycle gives an individual the ability to register as a group leader, become a integral part of the group structure, help build support rooms, use promotional materials, post under the @breakthecycle account, scout out new members and much, much more.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE @BREAKTHECYCLE INITIATIVE?
Last but not least, each and every single person reading this can support Break The Cycle in a number of important ways to promote it's growth and support the mission we are on. Obtaining membership and working within Break The Cycle is the most efficient and effective way to support our cause and everything that we do. Being a charity based non-profit initiative, we are only able to grow through our works within the community and through benefactors who chose to show support through donating SP or Steem/SBD to @breakthecycle. For those who would like to support our cause and initiative, but do not have the time to donate, you can always feel free to give to the program. Donations will help fund activities, growth and much more within the community and the confines of our group. Resteeming and upvoting our material is another way you can support Break The Cycle, and of course, you can provide moral support by dropping in on the comments to cheer us on.
Aside from the above mentioned methods, there are a few other ways you can show us your support. Adding @breakthecycle to your "fanbase" on the program SteemAuto is one way to show automatic upvote support to our materials and announcements that we will be posting. Following our "curation trail" on SteemAuto is another way to join in with several other like minded people, offering upvotes as a means of support. Sponsoring contests, scouting for individuals who may need help and seeking out benefactors are also ways you can help us on our journey to grow this initiative and offer our services to people on a much larger scale. Of course, each and every form you can provide is greatly appreciated. If you have ideas on how to show your support that are not mentioned, it does not eliminate it from possibility. Creativity is widely accepted and welcomed in Break The Cycle!
Anyone interested in providing financial support or delegations to our program is welcomed to process them to the SteemIt username @breakthecycle.
All photos are sourced and linked to their source if they are not original work of ours. Please click on them to be directed to their official location.
That wraps up the introduction to @breakthecycle, the community's newest and only true addiction and recovery outreach and support program. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this and for any forms of support that you are willing to offer up. Be advised, our Discord server is now live but will be undergoing construction over the next few days. Despite the fact it is still in the construction phases, everyone is welcomed to join in and start mingling with other members. Before I take my exit, I want to go ahead and thank everyone for showing the love and respect that you have for what I am building. Fighting addiction and helping others in their battle is no easy task, so every bit of moral support that has been offered up to me has been taken with stride, as it has been one of the reasons I decided to take my work within the community to the Steemit platform as well. As a sister program to RAADE (Recovering Addicts Against the Drug Epidemic), I am hopeful that this initiative will take off and change lives across the Steemit community! If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please feel free to ask away on this post. As always, resteems and upvotes and greatly appreciated! Stay posted for upcoming work from Break The Cycle as announcements will be pouring in as we continue to grow! Thank you all once again, may you have a blessed day!
Follow @terminallyill to view thought invoking articles and tutorials on Steemit, crypto, , charity work, addictions and more!
View an original article by @terminallyill on his personal battle with addiction and recovery by clicking HERE!
Take a moment to check out a community initiative helping people learn, earn and grow, by the name of @greetersguild!
