One of the greatest challenges to our recovery is the persistence with which we feel cravings to use our drugs of choice. Our addictive substances and behaviors formed such a huge part of our lives and our identities that they often overtook us entirely. It’s not realistic to think that once we’re sober we’ll suddenly, […]
Category: Resource Center
Why is Happiness Important for Recovery?
As we’re working to heal, we learn that recovery is about more than sobriety. Abstinence is an important element of shedding our dependence on our addictive substance or behavior, but we need to tackle our recovery holistically to give us the best chance of being successful. Happiness is one of the most important ingredients in […]
What Unhealed Fear Can Do to Us
Our fears have a way of overtaking our lives, bringing us all kinds of inner turmoil and emotional distress. Many of our fears are unconscious, and we aren’t aware of just how powerful they can be and what kind of impact they can have on our lives. We tend to want to avoid thinking about […]
How Does Addiction Steal Our Identity?
Living with addiction, it can be incredibly easy to forget who we are. Our addictions and the lifestyles we create around them take over our entire lives. We give all of our energy to prioritizing our addictions and making sure we can get the high we feel we need. When we’re addicted to a substance […]
Can Panic Journaling Help Me?
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Many of us in recovery are familiar with journaling, but we may be less familiar with panic journaling. What is it, and how can it help us? Panic journaling is the practice of journaling during a panic attack, […]
Examining Our Unconscious Fears
When living with addiction and mental health issues, many of us know we’re in pain, but we don’t know why exactly. We can tell that we’re afraid, but we often aren’t conscious of what our fears actually are. Our fears are stored in our subconscious minds, beneath the conscious awareness of our thinking minds. This […]
How Can I Help Myself During a Panic Attack?
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Those of us who live with panic attacks know just how intense, all-consuming and terrifying they can be. We can find ourselves totally overpowered by the fear, sadness and shame we’re feeling. We can feel as though we’re […]
Learning from Our Fears
When it comes to fear, many of us have a default reactionary response to our fears which is to run and hide from them. We’re so afraid to feel the anxiety and sadness that come with fear that we try to avoid thinking about our fears at all costs. We find ourselves being easily triggered, […]
Self-Forgiveness for Healing
When we’re doing the emotional work of recovery, one of the hardest emotions to shed is our shame. Many of us were conditioned from early childhood to carry guilt and shame within us, not only for our mistakes and wrongdoings, but also for our shortcomings, flaws and imperfections. We constantly felt inadequate, sometimes because our […]
How Do I Learn Independence After Being in Codependent Relationships?
When living with addiction, we commonly find ourselves in codependent relationships full of neediness, dependence and attachment. We very often don’t establish or maintain healthy boundaries. We have poor conflict resolution skills, unhealthy communication styles, and a great deal of interpersonal turmoil. We become so dependent upon our partner that we feel as though we […]