recovery
Maintaining Recovery Long After Treatment: Key Elements to a Lifestyle of Sobriety
Living a life of sobriety is easily one of the most rewarding paths you could take. You’ve spent so much time working on bettering yourself, and you can probably list many of the steps that you’ve taken over the past year (or years) that have lifted you up in recovery. A lifestyle of sobriety is…
Read MoreAcceptance, Gratitude and Strength: Positive Messages Received in Recovery
When we’re in the throes of addiction, we often lose sight of what’s real. We become confused about our sense of purpose in life, sometimes with the belief that substances are all we’re meant to seek out. We may lose aspects of our lives that were once near and dear to our hearts – such…
Read MoreCoping With Time Change When You’re In Recovery
For people in the US, daylight saving time begins on March 10. That means we set our clocks forward and lose an hour of the day. For most people, the beginning of daylight saving is harder than the end. Most people’s circadian rhythms are slightly longer than 24 hours, so losing an hour feels like…
Read MoreFinding Our Purpose
A universal part of the human experience, whether or not we’re living with addiction and mental illness, is the existential crisis of not knowing our purpose in life. When we’re recovering from addiction, we often feel an acute sense of overwhelm and pressure when we experience this kind of crisis. We already feel like failures…
Read MoreHow Do You Overcome Fear of Change in Addiction Recovery?
Change can be scary for anyone. You don’t quite know what to expect. You may face new problems you don’t know how to deal with. Your life might get worse. Fear of change is especially scary for someone considering getting treatment for addiction. Addiction is often characterized by set patterns and rigid behavior. People with…
Read MoreDo Your Habits Sabotage Happiness in Your Recovery?
Finding happiness is challenging for anyone, and it may be especially challenging for someone recovering from addiction. Maintaining a positive attitude in recovery requires learning new skills and ways of thinking. On top of that, you have to learn to manage cravings and deal with life’s stress without resorting to old destructive coping mechanisms. Many…
Read MoreThe Journey of Recovery
After years of living with painful addictions and mental health issues, we’re inclined to think that our recovery will be straightforward and simple, based on a foundation of sobriety, committed abstinence from our addictive substance or behavior. While sobriety is a large part of recovery, it is only one part. Our recovery is not a…
Read MoreCould Impostor Syndrome Threaten My Recovery?
Impostor syndrome is the feeling that your successes in life are merely the result of luck or deception and that you don’t really deserve to be where you are. People with impostor syndrome often feel like frauds. Whenever someone compliments them on having done something well, they feel inwardly guilty, like they’ve managed to pull…
Read MoreBenefits of Pets During Addiction Recovery
Loneliness is one major challenge people often face early in recovery. It’s usually a good idea to distance yourself from old friends who drink or use drugs since they can be a major trigger of cravings. However, you may not yet have any friends to replace them. People typically find loneliness stressful and depressing. Chronic…
Read MoreGratitude in Recovery
Being grateful in life, and in recovery specifically, is a gift in and of itself. Gratitude allows you to find beauty in everything you see and experience. Gratitude turns painful experiences into lessons that we can appreciate and apply directly to our healing progress. Being grateful helps us to see the good in everything. Having…
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