Nancy Reagan made “Just Say No” famous in 1982 and it spread quickly in drug prevention and treatment programs.
The slogan received a lot of criticism, though. The idea of just saying no to drugs was called simplistic, the reducing of something that is complex to a catch phrase.
It is overly simple. Of course it’s not the whole story. But in a way breaking any addiction is this simple because you do have to say no — as a first step.
Simple is not the same thing as easy.
An addiction is physical, spiritual and emotional. The thing we’re addicted to becomes a friend that is always there. It provides an intense pleasure that we come to depend on. Even someone with a lesser addiction — to coffee or to chocolate — knows that it is not easy to break a habit.
This is where treatment programs and support groups help. They will help to reduce the automatic responses to the thing you crave. You’ll examine the core reasons why you rely on your addiction in the first place. You will learn to distract yourself and say “yes” to other things that will give your life real meaning.
But it does all start with telling yourself that you have a choice, and that you’re choosing to say no.