Sometimes as we’re undergoing the recovery process and learning how to heal ourselves, we still feel burdened by feelings of shame, embarrassment and disappointment that we’ve carried with us throughout our lives. These feelings are so strong that we become inclined to keep our experiences to ourselves. We’re hesitant to share our stories with otherRead More
Our Strong Attachments Many of us struggling with addictions and mental health issues have a relationship to our emotions that is based on strong attachments to them. We feel strongly attached to our pain and our trauma. We feel defined by our emotions, and we self-identify with them. We hold our fear close to us,Read More
If you’re struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). As recovering addicts, we’ve seen firsthand just how much chaos, turmoil and destruction addiction can bring to our lives. We often don’t want to look at all of it head on because we feel ashamed, embarrassed and disappointed inRead More
Those of us struggling with behavioral addictions, or process addictions as they’re sometimes called, have a unique set of challenges relating to our recovery. Behavioral addictions can include any behavior, process, or combination thereof that we become dependent upon. We can become addicted to anything that brings us feelings of release, relief, detachment, escapism, distraction,Read More
The journey of recovery is a lifelong one, and for many of us it involves some of the most challenging work we’ll ever do in our lives, spanning years and decades of our lives. The journey is comprised of deep self-exploration and personal development, resolving complex issues and tackling old wounds. When we look backRead More
Understanding why it’s hard to let go of our substance(s) of choice and the importance of addressing the underlying issues within the temptation. Once we’re well into our recovery, it can be painful and confusing to find ourselves still being tempted by our drug of choice, even once we have achieved sobriety. We wonder whyRead More
For many of us struggling with addiction, much of the struggle comes from the inner turmoil and conflict we feel around our addictions and the choices we make. We work on new thought patterns and try to make healthier choices, then we default to our old ways of thinking and decision-making. We tell ourselves weRead More
As we learn more about ourselves and our addictions, we discover that our addictive patterns have a lot to do with internal self-destructiveness. This realization can be baffling for many of us. Why would we want to hurt ourselves? Why would we want to inflict pain on ourselves and sabotage our wellness? The answers canRead More
Sometimes we associate ego with arrogance, with being full of ourselves, with being condescending and patronizing towards others, and thinking we’re superior to other people. Because our ego is our sense of self, these traits often arise in us when we have a wounded ego, when our sense of self has been injured, fractured orRead More
One common habit we can fall into that detracts from our recovery is blaming our addictions for all of our many problems and seeing it as the culprit behind why we’re so unhappy in our lives. We see our addictions as the source of all our issues, so understandably we begin to resent our addictionsRead More