Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices…
The term ‘go with the flow’ refers to the ability to stay calm and accept a situation without trying to change or control it. In sobriety, we move away from attempting to control situations and focus on accepting what we cannot change. We will inevitably be put into a situation that is out of our…
Many of us had painful experiences during our time in addiction that we would prefer to forget about. It can be difficult not to become agitated or upset when we are reminded of these experiences. However, through recovery we can gain a new perspective on what occurred in our past and begin to use our…
It can be difficult to get active when we first achieve sobriety. We often cared little about our physical and mental health when we living with addiction, but sobriety gives us a chance to finally turn our attention to our health and happiness. Working out can feel tedious, but we can find ways to get…
Before enter into treatment, we rarely have any conception about what recovery means aside from no longer drinking alcohol or taking drugs. Achieving and maintaining abstinence is of utmost importance. However, there is so much more to recovery than not drinking or using. We begin, often for the first time, to grow and develop physically…
It can be surprising what we can accomplish when we simply change the way we think about things. For example, we may enter into a challenging situation full of fear of failure and find that we perform poorly. However, if we enter into the same situation full of confidence, we find that we do much…
The words “happy, joyous, and free” are said quite frequently in the rooms of recovery meetings. However, what are they referring to? It seems simple enough– we find happiness in sobriety, our lives become filled with joy, and we are free from the chains of addiction. However, the happiness, joyousness, and freedom that we experience…
Recovery is about mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. Drugs and alcohol were a way for us to stay within our comfort zones. We self-medicated to cope with any and all external stressors and found solace in the immediate comfort provided by intoxication. Sobriety gives us a chance to take on new challenges and gain confidence…
The great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky once said, “The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness.” When we enter into recovery, we often felt disconnected from ourselves for quite some time. We don’t know what truly makes us feel happiness aside from intoxication, nor do we know what makes us unhappy. Recovery is…
It is easy to fall into unhealthy thought patterns of internal shame and external blame. We never wanted to find ourselves caught so tightly in the grips of addiction that it was impossible to live the lives we expected to have before drugs and alcohol. Our pasts, however dark and full of suffering they may…