When living with addiction and mental illness, we have a tendency to always feel as though there’s something wrong with us, like there’s always something that needs to be fixed, added or taken away in order for us to be good enough. We feel inadequate as we are, unworthy, and undeserving of love and happiness. […]
Category: Resource Center
Welcoming the Challenges in Recovery
Recovery is known for being a difficult time in our lives, where we’re faced with obstacles that push us mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually, in ways we’ve never been challenged before. Our recovery is a time when we’re finally taking the steps needed to get sober, learning more about ourselves and deepening our understanding of […]
Why We’re Afraid of Treatment
When it comes to addiction recovery, there are many things we fear – the difficult symptoms of withdrawal, having to give up our dependence on our drug of choice, harsh judgments from other people, feeling alone in this new journey we’re taking. One thing many of us fear is entering treatment and getting professional help. […]
Being Patient with Our Loved Ones in Recovery
Being patient with our loved ones when they’re in recovery is one of our greatest challenges but also one of the most important things we can do, both for them and for ourselves. Throughout their struggles with addiction, we’ve watched them self-destruct, create turmoil everywhere they go, and wreak havoc on both their lives and […]
The Habits that Form Addictions
We tend to think of our addictions in much the same way we view our mental health issues, as powerful forces beyond our control, as illnesses we were born with or inherited but can’t heal from. We fail to realize that the patterns we develop, the mental and emotional habits we practice and repeat over […]
The Role of Self-Hate in Addiction
If you’re struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). At the root of our addictions, for many of us, lies an emotional foundation we’ve created for ourselves of self-hate and self-rejection. We don’t feel unconditional love and acceptance for ourselves. We don’t nurture, support or protect ourselves. We […]
Finding the Valuable Lessons Within Our Emotions
Many of us living with addiction and mental illness have developed patterns of avoiding, suppressing and resisting our emotions, in particular the ones we find most difficult to handle. When we feel stressed out and overwhelmed, depressed and afraid, confused and ashamed, our instinct is often to shut down and try to stop feeling our […]
How Our Addictions Have Held Us Back
If you’re struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). When we’re in recovery, many of us are finally starting to gain clarity and insight on our addictions. We’re starting to see things clearly for the first time. We have a much deeper understanding of who we are and […]
What Can Our Codependent Relationships Teach Us About Ourselves?
Our relationships have a great deal to teach us, particularly the ones that are unhealthy, because within them, we’re confronted with unresolved issues and unhealed pain in direct and irrefutable ways. Our conflicts, misunderstandings and relationship problems all stand to teach us a tremendous amount about ourselves, about who we are as people, who we […]
Learning to Take Responsibility for Our Emotions
Our addictions and mental health issues have a lot to do with our mental and emotional patterns, and one of the most destructive ones many of us tend to develop is failing to take responsibility for our emotions. We can find our feelings so hard to cope with that we want to place them on […]