Addiction Treatment Centers » The Path of Least Resistance

The Path of Least Resistance

Filed Under Book Reviews |

How does “The Path of Least Resistance,” by Robert Fritz, apply to recovery?

In a number of different ways. This book is pure magic for the recovering addict or alcoholic.

1) “You go through life taking the path of least resistance”

We can easily apply this principle to our drinking days or when we
were actively using drugs. Medicating ourselves with chemicals was
the quick fix; the instant gratification. For the addict mind, using
chemicals almost always represented the path of least resistance.
Fritz argues that if you try to make major life changes, chances are
good that you will eventually return to your original behavior — if
that behavior still represents the path of least resistance.

2) “The underlying structure of your life determines the path of least resistance”

This is huge. What this means is that if you quit using drugs and
alcohol, but the underlying structure of your life doesn’t change,
then you will return to your old ways.

3) “You can change the underlying structure of your life”

Recovery in action. When people refer to “doing the footwork” in
recovery, they are not talking about making superficial changes.
People who experience a genuine lasting recovery from addiction do so
through a complete change in personality; a true spiritual experience
that changes them from the inside out. Major changes, not superficial
ones. Fritz is arguing that you can indeed change the underlying
structure of your life. Recovering addicts and alcoholics who have
achieved long term sobriety have done exactly that.

When I finally got clean and sober, I did so by making truly major
changes to the underlying structure of my life. Here are some
examples of those structural changes:

1) Entered a long term treatment center and lived there for 20 months.

2) Started attending 12 step meetings every single day, sometimes 2 or
3 meetings per day.

3) Left all of my old drinking buddies, changed all of these unhealthy
associations permanently and completely

Those are major structural changes, especially living in long term
treatment–along with everything that doing so entails.

4) “You can learn to recognize these key structures”

We must increase our awareness and practice mindfulness. We can also
use our sponsor or our peers in recovery to help us see these
underlying structures.

5) “Attempting to use a psychological solution for a structural problem is not going to work”

This has huge implications for recovery. A psychologist might try to
solve your alcoholism through psychotherapy, and figuring out what
made you an alcoholic in the first place. Or, a therapist might try
some emotional therapy techniques with you, in an attempt to get you
to retrain how you react to situations. These are psychological
solutions.

But there is a mountain of evidence that points to addiction as being
a structural problem. This becomes especially true the longer someone
has been using drugs or alcohol. This is because their whole life
starts to revolve around the addiction. For example, an alcoholic
will tend to associate with other heavy drinkers, find friends and/or
a spouse who is codependent (and thus supports their drinking), and
generally set up their life so that it enables them to drink all the
time. Because addiction is a set of patterns, it really is a structural problem.
When the finally decide to quit drinking, all of these underlying structures that made
it easy to drink are still in place.

Structure and the Creative Process

Fritz says that it is easy to create with structure but difficult to
destroy or “take away.” So instead of asking “how can create a
structure in my life to get rid of my drinking problem,” the question
should really be phrased more along the lines of “how can I create an
underlying structure in my life that leads to spiritual growth?” The book
also talks about the difference between oscillating (moving towards a
goal and then sliding back) versus creating towards a resolution. The
idea is to find structures that lead to a resolution, instead of
finding ourselves trapped in oscillating structures that have us
making short progress followed by a few steps backwards (relapse).

The implications for recovery here are huge, and this is just chapter
1 out of 19 chapters!

You can also purchase this book right here if you’d like.