In recovery communities, particularly 12-Step fellowships, there is an emphasis on helping those new to recovery go through the process of achieving and maintaining sobriety. The concept of helping others as a means of maintaining one’s own sobriety comes from the collective experience of many men and women in recovery. Alcoholics Anonymous was the first…
Spirituality may be a bothersome term for some because it seems to imply religious thought. In recovery, however, spirituality is simply addressing the indefinable part of ourselves that caused us to fall victim to hopelessness and depression, and seek drugs and alcohol as a way to fix our problematic internal condition. These feelings are symptomatic…
Relapse is extremely likely no matter what, but that doesn’t mean that you are “immune” to treatment. Relapse doesn’t have to occur, but it a part of the story of most people who have eventually achieved permanent sobriety. Some people can go to treatment once and never use alcohol or drugs again, but for the…
Many men and women suffering from the disease of addiction have attempted to stop countless times. They go through unimaginable pain while attempting to detoxify their bodies, only to pick up another drink or drug shortly after. This is because there are certain aspects of the disease of addiction that make it nearly impossible to…
Addiction is a disease that strongly affects our thinking and brain chemistry. We will always search for an excuse not to seek help because we have such a strong compulsion to continue using drugs that we will trick ourselves into thinking that our life is manageable. Generally, if we find ourselves asking the question of…
Many of us fondly remember the comfortable feeling of being in a bar or being around friends and family who are drinking or using drugs. We want to hold onto that part of our lives and feel that we will be able to simply not use drugs or drink when we are in an environment…
Many of us have been through tremendous amounts of pain and suffering during our time in active addiction or alcoholism. We came to a point when we realized that we were unable to gain control over our drug or alcohol use. This point in our lives, when we were finally ready to surrender, is often…
Our time in addiction changed the way that we think. Our brains became so accustomed to drugs and alcohol that we began developing uncontrollable cravings. Often, we found out the hard way that, no matter how many times we swore we would not drink or use again, we managed to convince ourselves to pick up…
Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-Step fellowships suggest making amends to people whom we have harmed in the past. This is the 9th Step, which states: “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” Many people are filled with anxiety at the prospect of facing those…
Occasionally, people in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous will say that they work a selfish program or that A.A. itself is a selfish program. They may be seeing that A.A. has a focus on self-development and creating a personal relationship with one’s higher power, and from that alone, make the assumption that selfishness is part…