Withstanding Being Tempted and Triggered Part of our recovery is learning to withstand the temptation we feel to use our drugs of choice. We can’t escape every trigger, but we can offset them and minimize their impact. An extremely helpful way to help ourselves when we’re feeling triggered is to “play the tape through”. TryingRead More
Emotional blockages add to our emotional pain and make the process of recovery a much more challenging prospect. These blockages can present themselves any time we try to suppress, avoid, or escape our emotions. Using our drug of choice to distract ourselves from our feelings strengthens these blockages. When we retreat into our relationships ratherRead More
One of the things that keeps us attached to our drug of choice is the fact that we associate it with celebration, fun, and feeling good. We get high or drunk to celebrate the end of the workweek. Pretty much every party, event, and special celebration includes drugs and alcohol. In fact, some of theseRead More
Those of us struggling with addiction can find ourselves perpetuating emotional and behavioral patterns that make it harder for us to heal. One of these patterns is called justification. While addiction is a profoundly unhealthy way of life, we have come to consider it normal. We rationalize our addictions and make excuses for ourselves andRead More
As we struggle with our addictions, we can find ourselves feeling increasingly negative. Addiction churns up toxicity in our daily lives, and we become consumed by the difficulties of our life challenges. We’re in unhealthy relationships full of conflict and turmoil. Issues continue to crop up, and it seems as though we can never findRead More
The Problematic Associations We’ve Created Sometimes what can sabotage us most in our recovery are the perspectives we’ve adopted around recovery and sobriety. We think of sobriety as something that will hold us back and keep us from being happy. Sobriety becomes associated with missing out on the fun. If we can’t get high, weRead More
As we’re working to recover, we realize that the changes we’re implementing will be hard to maintain. We worry that we’ll find ourselves reverting to bad habits and old behavioral patterns. Our greatest fear is that we’ll continue to relapse and never fully land on our feet. Sobriety is such a new and outlandish concept,Read More
When properly cultivated, our interpersonal relationships can be vital to our success in recovery. On the other hand, conflict in our relationships can leave us emotionally unstable, with our sobriety hanging in the balance. Discord and disagreements in our relationships typically provoke intense emotions. In early recovery, we may feel as though we have noRead More
Identifying Self-Destructive Behaviors Part of recovering from our addictions is learning which behaviors and habits in our lives are self-destructive. Next, we need to identify behaviors that are self-loving and self-empowering. Using our drug of choice is the most obvious self-destructive habit, but there are countless other ways in which we sabotage our progress. CommonRead More
One way we can help ourselves stay the course of our recovery is to keep reminding ourselves of the reasons why we want to stay sober. Sometimes, with everything going on in our lives, we forget why we were motivated to get sober in the first place. Our recovery programs can be overwhelming. Even thoughRead More