For the first nine days, you've been responding to cravings when they hit. Today is the day to get ahead of them.
A craving response plan is not a willpower strategy. It's a decision made in a calm moment, for use in a non-calm moment. The decision about what to do when a craving hits is much better made right now — when you're not in one — than in the middle of one.
TL;DR: Cravings fall into three types: time-based (tied to a specific time of day or week), trigger-based (linked to a specific cue, person, or environment), and mood-based (driven by an emotional state). Each type benefits from a different response strategy. Building one specific response for your most common craving type takes about 10 minutes and is one of the highest-leverage things you can do in week two.
The three types of cravings
Time-based cravings. These happen predictably at a specific time — evenings, Friday afternoons, weekends, late nights. If you notice that your cravings are strongest at a consistent time of day or week, this is a time-based craving pattern. It reflects the conditioned association between the time context and cocaine use.
Response strategy: Structure the time slot. A craving you know is coming can be pre-empted with a planned activity. What will you do at Friday 7pm? The answer has to be specific: "I will call [person] at 7pm on Fridays." Not "keep myself busy." Specific.
Trigger-based cravings. These arrive suddenly when you encounter a cue — a specific person, a location, a piece of music, even a smell. They feel sudden because the amygdala fires before conscious awareness of the trigger. If your cravings seem to jump out of nowhere, they're usually trigger-based.
Response strategy: Identify and avoid the trigger in the short term. Later in recovery, you'll build tolerance to triggers — but in weeks 2–6, avoidance is a valid tool. If a specific contact triggers cravings, mute or block them temporarily. If a specific location does, don't go there yet.
Mood-based cravings. These are connected to an emotional state — stress, boredom, loneliness, anxiety, low mood. They don't have a predictable time and aren't tied to a specific cue; they're tied to how you feel. If your cravings correlate with emotional states, this is a mood-based pattern.
Response strategy: Address the emotional state directly, not the craving. A mood-based craving driven by loneliness responds to contact with someone. One driven by stress responds to a stress reduction activity (walk, breathing, exercise). The craving is the signal; the emotional state is the target.
Writing your plan
Take 10 minutes. Write answers to these three questions:
1. My most common craving type is: (time-based / trigger-based / mood-based — or a combination)
2. The specific situation it most commonly occurs in:
3. When that craving hits, I will specifically:
The third answer has to be a concrete action, not a resolution. Not "stay strong." A phone number to call, a place to go, a physical action to take.
One plan, written down, is more useful than excellent intentions. The reason is simple: in the middle of a craving, decision-making capacity is impaired by the same dopamine system disruption that drives the craving. A pre-made decision is accessible when a fresh decision isn't.
The plan doesn't have to be permanent
Week 2 strategies will evolve. The avoidance of certain triggers, the structured Friday evening — these are early-recovery tools. In month 3 or month 6, you'll have more tolerance built and the strategies will change.
Right now, you need a plan that works for where you are. A plan written for a day 10 person is not a plan written for a 6-month-sober person. They're different people with different resources.
Write for day 10. Revise later.
Part of the Recovery Reads cocaine series. Day 11 is next.
Coach Aria — private 12-week cocaine recovery program. coacharia.com/signup