Progressive

Some people believe that once they stop practicing an addiction, everything should be fine.  Life will be good and virtue easier to do.  Not so.  Why?  You stop bad behavior, should not good behavior move in as a replacement?  Think of bad behavior, addiction, bad habits, as things that start out small, but over time progress, deepen, worsen, become habitual.  A person might be a blackout drinker from the beginning, but they don't drink every day.  They do not yet crash cars, lose jobs, and get divorces. They don't start out living in parks and shelters due to booze and drugs.  The disease or habit increases over time until it kills you or you decide to change out of desperation.  So why should the solution begin full blown?  New behavior takes time. Recovery is as progressive as was the outrageous lifestyle you once lived.  The good news is that if you continue on the spiritual path to better behavior, there will be steady improvement, maybe with some rough patches, but everyone has those days.  Patience and practice.  Are you having a bad day?  You probably know what to do, but have not done it.  Go to the spiritual tool kit.  Doing nothing is never doing nothing.  For many people it is the beginning of the way back to the darkness.