As we’re working to recover, there are countless choices we’re making in our everyday lives. We’re creating new lifestyles, habits and behavioral patterns, all of which require that we be conscientious about the daily choices we’re making. We make the choice to stay clean, to go to meetings, and to keep up with therapy. Sometimes […]
Category: Resource Center
Do Ultimatums Work?
Living with addiction, it is not uncommon for us to experience our family, friends and other loved ones trying desperately to get us to quit. They will recommend therapy and rehab, stage interventions, or threaten to leave or kick us out. For many of us, it seems nothing will work, as our addictions have become […]
Choosing Abstinence in Recovery
When we’re working to recover, it’s clear to us that we want to abstain from our addictive substances and behaviors. What is often less clear to us is how beneficial it can be to abstain from dating and relationships as well. Some of us identify as being love and sex addicts, so our relationships are […]
Why is Untreated Depression So Dangerous?
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Depression is an often misunderstood and confusing mental and emotional health issue. It often functions as a co-occurring disorder alongside addiction, meaning that they can co-exist in us simultaneously and can present themselves in similar ways, with the […]
Dating in Recovery
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). While in recovery, our relationships can make all the difference between wanting to get better and actually accomplishing our goals. The kinds of relationships we choose mirror how we feel about ourselves and are an excellent indicator of […]
How Do I Develop Self-Acceptance?
When we don’t love and accept ourselves, we set ourselves up for the mental and emotional vulnerability and fragility that can easily lead to addiction and mental illness. Rejecting and hating ourselves keeps us locked in patterns of self-destruction and self-sabotage. We hold ourselves down, limit our potential and sabotage our well-being. We suffer from […]
Living with the Violence of Addiction
Many of us living with addiction also find ourselves in unhealthy relationships that are filled with toxicity, hostility and even violence and abuse. Many of us experienced relationships like these in our families while we were growing up. We witnessed domestic abuse within our homes, that we often were victims of as well. We tend […]
Everything We Gain from Recovery
As recovering addicts, there is so much we stand to gain during the course of our recovery journey. More than just our sobriety, we get our lives back. We get back the chance to dream and to take full advantage of our opportunities. We get to choose to live. We get to shed the self-destructiveness […]
How Can We Find Our Purpose?
Not knowing our purpose in life can be so overwhelming, stressful and painful that it can contribute to our addictions and mental health issues. We feel pressure to succeed and to make a name for ourselves. We want desperately to be perceived as good enough. We’re battling insecurity, feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. We […]
Pregnancy and Addiction
For many people, pregnancy is a time of hopefulness and joy as we prepare to give life and live one of the most powerful and life altering experiences in human existence. For many others of us, we’re still battling addiction when we become pregnant and can feel especially sad, afraid and hopeless during our pregnancy. […]