Typically, people who find their way into recovery—whether it be through a treatment center/rehab facility, a 12 Steps program or some combination of both—come in with some measure of humility. That is, having “reached the end of their rope” with their dependency on alcohol and/or drugs, they’ve likely faced a devastating array of problems: …
Do you or a loved one struggle with addiction to drugs like opioids, cocaine, or meth? If so, your body has become dependent on those drugs so much so that you can’t stop. The best step is to seek out medical detox, a safe and effective way of breaking that dependency for some people. At…
If you’re fresh out of rehab, or if you’ve been out of rehab for years, the holidays are often challenging times. You will be seeing family and friends who you may not have seen since you became sober. Someone may not be aware of your new lifestyle and offer you an alcoholic beverage. If you’re…
Rehab 101: Recovery Helps Us Go from ‘Know-it-All’ to Teachable “Happiness is always on the other side of being teachable.” – Shannon Alder Contrary to what may be a stereotype, many people who come into treatment seeking recovery from a substance use disorder are highly intelligent, sometimes professionals with multiple college degrees and years of…
Rehab 101: Reflections on Being Encouraged to “Enjoy Your Life in Recovery” “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” — Henri Nouwen, Prof. of Theology at Yale, Harvard & Univ. of Notre Dame Looking back at the state of our hearts and spirits…
“If the rest of the world would only behave… Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity? Selfishness – self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, A.A. World Services, Inc. When any of us first begin recovery from a substance abuse…
“Much of your pain is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.” – Khalil Gibran [Note: This blog-post is meant to address how those of us in recovery from addiction can deal most effectively with pain, focusing mainly on chronic pain. Although there may, at times, be some overlap,…
“The body is a boat that floats the soul in space and time.” – Saroj Aryal As people who are in recovery from substance abuse, there are a number of dimensions of our physical selves that need daily attention, if we’re to ensure we’re “covering the bases” properly. Besides the typically mentioned elements of our…
I once told someone in my addiction recovery network about a guy who would brag about the length of his clean time, but always seemed angry. My friend’s reply was, “I actually know who you’re talking about. He may be abstinent, but that’s not the same as recovery.” I’ve seen over the years just how…
“Change is never painful. Only the resistance to change is painful.” – Buddha So often in early addiction recovery (or later for that matter, after months and years of being sober/clean), we find ourselves facing either relationship issues, work-related matters or other “life situations” that require us to change how we’ve approached them in the…