Living with addictions and mental health issues presents us with some very difficult challenges, and an important part of recovery is discovering ways to find enjoyment in our lives again. We often neglect our happiness and stop doing the things we love. We think we don’t deserve to be happy because of our shame and […]
Category: Resource Center
Making Peace with the Past
Many of us living with addictions and mental health issues have a hard time letting go of our pasts. We carry the weight of our traumatic experiences. We struggle to forgive our mistakes. We dwell on our regrets. We cling to our shame and embarrassment. We tend to be emotionally self-destructive rather than self-protective, often […]
How Do I Actually Learn to Love Myself?
When we talk about self-love, it can feel like a foreign concept that we don’t know how to apply to our lives. How can we actually learn to love ourselves? In what tangible ways can we implement self-love in our lives? How can we incorporate self-love into our healing and our recovery process? Self-Acceptance A […]
How Acceptance Can Help Us Heal
Many of us with addictions and mental health issues have a tendency to resist our pain rather than accept it. We have developed such a resistance over the years, often unconsciously, that we are giving our painful thoughts and emotions even more power over us. When we can learn to accept them, we are able […]
How Can Self-Love Help Me Get Better?
Of all the healing tools we develop in our recovery process, self-love might be the most important. Self-love is the active process of giving ourselves love, accepting ourselves unconditionally, and respecting ourselves. Self-love is offering ourselves compassion, understanding and forgiveness. When we love ourselves, we set ourselves up for a greater chance of recovery. Self-love […]
Developing Emotional Independence
Many of us with addictions and mental health issues find ourselves in codependent relationships, and we often are emotionally dependent on the other people in our lives. We base our emotions and moods on other people’s and are emotionally susceptible to their changing feelings. As part of our recovery, we can choose to develop our […]
Why is Self-Love Important for Recovery?
Many of us living with addictions and mental health issues believe on a fundamental level that we are inadequate, that we are unworthy, that we are undeserving of happiness. We believe we are unlovable because deep down we don’t love ourselves. These beliefs are often what drive us to try to escape our pain with […]
How Nature Can Support Us in Our Recovery
Many of us live in cities without much regular access to the natural world. This separation from nature is known to contribute to depression, anxiety and other mental health issues and is sometimes referred to as Nature Deficit Disorder. Spending time in nature, even in small amounts, can be wonderfully beneficial to our healing and […]
How Can I Calm My Anxiety?
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health issues we face when living with addiction. When we learn ways to manage our anxiety, we have more control over our daily lives, and we are better able to navigate the many challenges that come with mental and emotional health difficulties. Anxiety is essentially our inner […]
Common Signs of Addiction
Many people living with addictions go to great lengths to hide their behaviors from other people. They find ways to normalize their behaviors and minimize their addictions to keep others from suspecting how serious their issues really are. Addicts will sometimes need their drug of choice or compulsion in order to cope. They might use […]