Many of us living with addiction have developed mental and emotional patterns of criticizing and judging ourselves, beating ourselves up, and inundating ourselves with feelings of guilt and shame. We hold onto our mistakes and regrets rather than forgiving ourselves. We are unkind to ourselves rather than being patient and understanding with ourselves during the […]
Category: QA
How Can I Stop Being So Triggered?
When we have unhealed wounds within us, we can find ourselves being easily triggered by events, by things people say and do, by memories or associations, or by anything that reminds us of our pain. Often we don’t know why we’re being triggered by something or someone. We can find ourselves being highly reactive, volatile, […]
What Can I Do When I Feel Lost?
Those of us living with addiction and mental illness are no strangers to feeling lost every now and then. We’re coping with tremendous difficulties. Our dependence issues, along with our mental and emotional challenges, can make us feel as though we’ve totally lost our sense of purpose and direction. We can feel unfulfilled, discouraged and […]
How Are We Strengthened by our Experience with Addiction?
Living with addiction, many of us come to identify ourselves as being weak people, because we see our addictions as a reflection of our shame and immorality. We see ourselves as being too weak to withstand the temptation of our addictive urges and compulsions. When we’re working to recover, we start to see our addictions […]
How Can We Clear Our Resistance?
When it comes to our emotional health and well-being, many of us are holding onto what we refer to as emotional blocks. We experience blockages that prevent us from feeling our emotions fully, from expressing and communicating them, and from processing the challenging thoughts that contribute to our emotions. When we are blocked, we can […]
How Can I Reconnect with Myself?
Our addictions are so overpowering that they can totally alter our relationship with ourselves. We think and feel about ourselves in damaging ways because of all the shame, disappointment and regret we carry around our addictions. We create a self-perception and self-image based on the people we’ve become due to our addictions, rather than on […]
How Do I Motivate Myself in Recovery?
Our addictions are so debilitating that as we’re working to recover, we can find that our joy and sense of fulfillment have become totally depleted from our past experiences. We can find ourselves losing our hopefulness, our optimism and our positivity. We’ve been filled with so much shame and disappointment for so long that we […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]