Category: Recovery

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LOOK FOR SIMILARITIES NOT DIFFERENCES IN RECOVERY CIRCLES

When starting your recovery journey, identify the similarities, not the differences in the people and situations you encounter to develop a sense of belonging and community. There is proven psychology behind seeking the things that connect you to another person that will strengthen your support network and recovery foundation. When you enter a room full of people for the first time in treatment you have nothing in common with them, or so you think. Your mind will instantly plant rebuttal statements so you can remain aloof. You will be laser-focused...Read More

CREATE A CARE PACKAGE FOR REHAB: HIT ALL THE PAIN POINTS – AIM TO MOTIVATE, INSPIRE AND COMFORT

Being thoughtful and creative, you can gather items to create a care package for rehab that is personalized, will motivate, inspire and comfort your loved one. Small items can really boost spirits when you are in residential rehab. Showing support and care is extremely important when you are separated from your usual environment and placed with strangers. Receiving care packages from ‘the outside’ helps you feel connected, loved, supported and boosts self-esteem. The little things in rehab make a lot of difference. Keeping self-pity and depression at bay is important....Read More

ROMANTICIZING YOUR DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE: THE TOP OF THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TO RELAPSE

In recovery, romanticizing your drug and alcohol use is a precursor to relapse. Romanticizing is a triggering behavior. It can occur days, weeks or months ahead of the actual use of mind-altering substances. You need to refocus as soon as you start participating in the euphoric recall of your use. There is nothing in that life that you should be thinking back on fondly.Society and media both romanticize and vilify addiction. Movies depict drugs almost as social status, a plaything of the rich and famous. Alternatively, the drug addict is...Read More

7 TIPS TO GET THROUGH REHAB. YOUR CHOICES LANDED YOU IN THE HOT SEAT.

No matter how you ended up in treatment or how resistant and resentful you are, there is great benefit once you start participating. The short time you are in residential or intensive outpatient treatment is going to be the foundation of your recovery. Follow these tips to get through rehab and make the journey to recovery easier. What you learn in treatment is going to save your life. Pay attention!UNDERSTAND HOW YOU GOT HEREYou did not end up in rehab because you had a few too many at a family...Read More

RECOVERY MYTH: ADDICTS WILL SEE THE LIGHT WHEN CONSEQUENCES GET BAD ENOUGH

The unfortunate truth is that by the time you are heavily into substance abuse, nothing else will matter. Addicts and alcoholics will continue using until the age-old AA warning comes into effect; jails, institutions, and death. By the time the consequences get bad enough, you simply won’t care, nor will you have the where-with-all to recognize danger.Initially, the choice to use alcohol or drugs is just that, a choice. It remains a choice until tolerance builds up, dependence occurs, compulsions drive use, and withdrawal symptoms appear. The end result is...Read More

YOU ARE NOT POWERLESS IN RECOVERY. YOU ARE A WARRIOR WHO CAN OVERCOME YOUR ADDICTION.

When you attend a 12-step meeting, you will be introduced to the first step which asks you to admit you are powerless over your substance and your life is unmanageable. This statement is true while you are stuck in the cycle of addiction, immersed in the culture and consequences that long-term substance abuse attracts. When you enter treatment or choose recovery the concept of powerlessness must be struck from your vocabulary and mindset. You are not powerless in recovery. In treatment, you are given the power back. It is your...Read More

RECOVERY MYTH: THE MORE YOU SPEND ON REHAB, THE BETTER THE TREATMENT. THINK AGAIN! DON’T GET RIPPED OFF.

In 1956 when the AMA declared alcoholism a disease it became eligible to be treated as a medical condition. Health insurance companies jumped on the bandwagon and developed programs of treatment. Traditional inpatient rehab is based on the Minnesota Model utilizing 12-Step indoctrination. Over the past few decades, inpatient treatment for substance abuse and behavioral addictions has become a multi-billion dollar a year business. Don’t get ripped off by thinking that the more you spend on rehab the better the treatment will be.The Betty Ford center is well known as...Read More

A.A. MEETINGS, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. MAKE AN INFORMED CHOICE.

For hundreds, if not thousands of years, alcohol has been a part of society. The fledgling alcohol treatment phenomenon has taken off in the twenty-first century and is now a multi-billion dollar a year industry. Centuries ago there were treatments and groups to deal with ‘inebriates.’ Alcoholism was considered a moral issue for the longest time. The Temperance movement, Prohibition, and institutionalization have all had their day. Alcoholic Anonymous is perhaps the most well-known program for alcoholics since its inception in 1939. A.A. meetings have been the mainstay of peer...Read More

HIT ROCK BOTTOM IS A DANGEROUS MYTH. YOU ARE FOOLING YOURSELF IF YOU BELIEVE YOUR SUBSTANCE ABUSE WILL ALLOW YOU TO LIVE THAT LONG.

Society is not kind to people addicted to alcohol or drugs. When ‘hit rock bottom’ is uttered an unflattering picture emerges. The enduring perception of an addict or alcoholic is a skid row bum. Someone on one the very edges of society. A person to be avoided and disdained. Their condition a direct result of their poor moral choices. Lack of control and inadequate motivation has landed them where they are.If you subscribe to this interpretation, you are part of the problem that prevents people from seeking help. Nothing could be...Read More

SHAME AND GUILT DON’T DEFINE YOU. IDENTIFY THE CAUSE AND UNLOCK YOUR INNER SUPERSTAR.

Shame and guilt in recovery are driving forces of relapse and staying stuck. Defining what shame and guilt are in regards to substance abuse is complicated and difficult to understand. Clarifying shame like an internal feeling of not being good enough, and guilt as an emotion tied to actions and behaviors you regret will give you a place to start.Simplifying how shame manifests in your adult life and in your substance abuse will help you identify areas you can work on to overcome the incorrect beliefs you hold about yourself...Read More

ONLY DRINKING OR USING ON WEEKENDS IS A COP OUT. THE ONLY PERSON YOU ARE FOOLING IS YOURSELF. TIME TO GET REAL.

Just because you only drink or use on weekends does not mean you don’t have a problem. A substance abuse problem is not defined by how often you drink or use. Several criteria exist including; the amount you use, tolerance, obsession, frequency, dependency, withdrawal symptoms, and negative consequences. The negative consequences you face, the way you act, blackouts and gaps in memory, outrageous behavior, arguments, relationship issues, physical fights, mental health conditions, risky behaviors, and cash flow paints a picture of your reality.JUSTIFICATIONYou have so many creative excuses to minimize,...Read More

UNLEASH YOUR STRENGTHS. EMBRACE YOUR UNIQUENESS. DISCOVER THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS IN RECOVERY.

In any program of recovery, you are given a roadmap to follow. The basic principles are provided on which a foundation is built. Identifying your strengths and your unique qualities and applying them to your recovery is what makes it work.WHAT MATTERS?In the midst of substance abuse, you will lose sight of all the things that matter to you. Your value and belief system can become seriously compromised. Your strengths will have been buried under the chaos and drama that is your current life.In recovery, you will identify what you...Read More

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