As recovering addicts, there are different ways in which we self-identify that hurt us, that hold us back, and that are defined by the limiting beliefs we believe about ourselves. We feel as though we’re not good enough. We feel unworthy and unlovable. We feel ashamed of all the things we’ve done wrong and the […]
Category: Resource Center
Letting Our Recovery Be an Example for Others
Sometimes as we’re recovering, we feel ashamed and embarrassed about where we are in our journey. We feel down on ourselves. We feel disappointed that we haven’t made as much progress in our recovery as we would have liked. We feel like we’re so far from our goal of sobriety that we might as well […]
How Do Our Mental Illnesses Affect Us Physically?
We tend to think of our mental illnesses as affecting our minds and our emotions, our thought processes, behaviors and emotional responses, but what about our bodies? Are our bodies affected as well? Are we impacted physically by our mental illnesses? For many of us, our mental illnesses do manifest physically, and we are impacted […]
Finding the Lessons in Our Pain
One of the best things we can do for ourselves as we’re working to recover is transform the relationship we have with our pain, our difficult emotions, our addictions and mental health issues, and our tough life experiences. Our instinctive response to pain is to resist it. It hurts, so we try to avoid feeling […]
Can Having Goals Help with Sobriety?
Sometimes to help ourselves stay on track with our sobriety, it can be extremely helpful to focus on reaching for our goals. Feeling successful and fulfilled can be a powerful deterrent to our drug use, because we feel happier, more confident, and more at peace within ourselves. We’re not giving our energy to beating ourselves […]
The Different Stages of Relapse
When we think of relapse, we usually associate it with the act of returning to our drug use after a period of abstinence. We think of all the painful emotions associated with it, the disappointment, shame and regret. We think of falling off the wagon and picking up our drug of choice after being so […]
Staying Fully Involved in the Recovery Process
The recovery process is something we have to commit to and then continuously recommit to if we want to stay aligned with our goals of sobriety. There are countless things that can work against us, countless obstacles we’re up against, and one of them is our tendency to start to slip in our recovery, to […]
Why We Should Stop Trying to Constantly Fix Ourselves
The recovery process, like any personal development journey, is full of ups and downs, challenges and obstacles, successes and perceived failures. What we come to realize is that what feels like a failure, or a mistake, or a flaw, is actually an invitation to open ourselves up even more to the process of learning how […]
Forging a Connection with Our Higher Power
Many recovery programs stress the importance of developing a relationship with our higher power, knowing this power, connecting with it and recognizing its existence within us. They view a religious or spiritual practice as being an important part of the recovery process. Many of us don’t already feel connected to a higher power, and we […]
Suicide and How Alone We Feel
If you’re struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Too many of us have known or been connected to someone who took their own life, and the tragedy of it stays with us forever. Many of us want to find a way to address suicide within our families […]