Harm reduction is for everyone - in fact, most people practice it every day, with out thinking about it. Harm reduction is about taking meaningful steps to better take care of ourselves. Whether we are eating one less cookie, taking one less hit of weed, drinking a glass of water with our alcohol, or swearing off drugs and alcohol completely, we are still practicing harm reduction.
In harm reduction, we do not moralize our decisions around behaviors we consider unhealthy or unsavory - life is full of gray areas, uncertainty, trade offs. We are all trying to cope the best we can - make the best out of our days, feel healthy, feel joy and happiness. Why judge ourselves for doing things to take care of our selves? It is the judgement and self-shaming that pushes us deeper into reliance on the very things that we want to change our relationship with.
In harm reduction oriented therapy, we try to find ways to get what we want, what we need, while still feeling good about our decisions and moving towards our ideal self. Our values. If you want to drink, you want to smoke cannabis, use any manner of drugs or behaviors that some consider "wrong" at face value, that is okay - we can only start where we are now. Can we do these things in a way that doesn't take away from who we are and who we want to be? Absolutely we can. In fact, we want maximize the pleasure we get from them - they should take the role we want to assign them - nothing more or less.
The relationship we have with these things is much like the relationships we have in our lives with our friends or family. Some friends are better being acquaintances. Some friends, we ultimately decide are not right for us. How do we feel when we are around them? How do we feel when we are done spending time with them? That makes a big difference on if we want to spend more time with them. In order to utilize harm reduction in our lives, we need to take time to consider how the various habits we have in our lives are impacting us, and make decisions that allow us to feel good about what we are doing. We want to have friends that treat us well, and are affirming of who we are and want to be. We want the substance we use to add to our lives - not take away. Sometimes we need to step away entirely - that is harm reduction too.
If you find yourself setting goals around abstinence, and perpetually failing to meet them, try finding a middle ground. Can you aspire to and plan around using an amount that does not lead to dysfunction in other parts of your life? What is one step you can take today to improve your self-care, that may not be connected with the substances you use?
If we start at the problem issues, and work our way back towards the cause, are there other things we can do to find a solution? Let's say the issue is that occasionally you drink too much, and come home and get into conflict with your partner, or do things that you regret later on. Outside of quitting drinking entirely and forever, are there other things you can change to prevent that situation? Maybe its the type of drink you have, the people you drink with, the places that you drink, or how you communicate around your drinking to your partner. In harm reduction, we can look for solutions that impact any one of these factors, and more. Ultimately, the issues that you are motivated to change and your persistence in following through with the changes will decide what you are able to achieve.
There is no step towards your self-care that is too small to try at least once - let the results speak for themselves.
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