🗺️Open Source Recovery Protocol
A storytelling framework for breaking dependency loops with Oriya Pollak
The 12 Beats of Remembering Who You Are
The Problem
You can't read the label from inside the bottle.
You've tried willpower. You've tried moderation. You've tried "being more mindful about it." Maybe you even tried AA, and sitting in a circle saying "I'm an addict" felt like wearing someone else's clothes.
None of it worked—because none of it showed you the code you're running.
You're not addicted to a substance. You're addicted to a story. And you can't rewrite a story you can't see.
The Framework
This is not a rehab timeline. It's a storytelling framework.
You don't have to quit to start. You write your recovery story—excavating the patterns, naming the loops, understanding why you've been outsourcing your faith to substances, validation, drama, anything outside yourself.
The goal isn't to make you stop. The goal is to make you see.
When you see the story you've been trapped in, you stop being the Character and become the Storyteller. And the Storyteller doesn't need to numb out. The Storyteller is already free.
The Four Outsourcings
Every addiction is an outsourcing. You gave something away and forgot you gave it.
Faith
Needing substances to feel connected, to access something "higher"
Power
Needing validation, achievement, or status to feel enough
Love
Needing proof from others that you're lovable
Story
Playing roles instead of owning who you actually are
Recovery is taking them back. Not through discipline—through recognition.
The Structure
4 Acts. 12 Beats. 90 Days.
The framework maps the structure of transformation—the same pattern used by Hollywood screenwriters, shamanic traditions, and your own nervous system when it's ready to change.
I: Forgetting
Seeing the pattern
The Loop, The Script, The Detox
II: Seeking
Understanding why it worked
The Withdrawal, The Pink Cloud, The Trap
III: Autocorrect
Facing what you've been avoiding
The Void, The Rewiring, The Death
IV: Remembering
Becoming the Storyteller
The Surrender, The Baseline, The Transmission
Each beat has a writing prompt. Your homework is your own story.
The Clean Season
The Clean Season is 90 days of clarity—not white-knuckling, but creating the space to see your own code.
You don't have to stop to start the work.
You can keep smoking, drinking, scrolling while you do the homework. But you might find that doing the homework makes stopping possible. The seeing precedes the stopping.
Who This Is For
High-functioning people running hidden loops.
You don't look like an addict. You run companies, raise kids, hit targets. But privately, you're managing something—weed, alcohol, the phone, work itself—and you've been managing it so well that no one knows.
Except you.
You hate the idea of AA. You're allergic to "surrendering to a higher power." You don't want to join a support group or wear the identity of "person in recovery" forever.
You want a system. A protocol. A map you can walk alone.
This is that.
Who This Is Not For
People in medical crisis. Some detoxes require medical supervision. This protocol is not a substitute for medical care. → When To Get Help
People who want to moderate. If you're looking for permission to "use responsibly," you won't find it here. Moderation is the warm bath that keeps the loop running.
People who want warmth. This is brutalist. Direct. Technical. An engineer doing a post-mortem, not a guru holding space. If you want someone to tell you you're doing great, this isn't it.
The Promise
If you run this protocol—really run it, not just read it—you will understand your own code.
Not because you'll have willpower. Not because you'll have "healed." But because you'll see the story that's been running you. And once you see it, you can't unsee it.
You are not the Character. You are the Storyteller who wrote the Character and forgot.
This protocol helps you remember.
Open Source Medicine
The map is free. Every beat, every prompt, every practice. Because medicine shouldn't be behind a paywall.
The guide is optional. If you want someone who's walked this path to walk it with you—someone to witness your excavation and call out when you're running the script—that option exists. → Work with Oriya
This is data, not defeat. If you restart the loop, you're back at Beat 1 with more information. Start again.
Last updated
