One of the hardest things we have to do when trying to have a healthy relationship is disclose the fact that we’re addicts. Many of us are so afraid of this difficult disclosure that we avoid relationships altogether. We push people away when they try to get too close to us. We isolate ourselves andRead More
When we’re struggling with conflict and unresolved issues in our relationships, couples counseling is one of the healing tools we can try, to help us with our conflict resolution patterns, strengthen our communication skills, and deepen our connection. When one or both of us is living with addiction, the counseling dynamic can be impacted inRead More
When we’re in any kind of relationship with an addict, there are so many factors at play that keep us in that relationship even when we feel we’re being hurt. Our love makes us protective, and we want to protect our loved ones from harm, which very often is of their own doing. We wantRead More
As the loved ones of addicts, our instincts are often to keep them close to us so that we can watch over them and do our best to ensure they’re okay. We want them to know they are loved and cared for. We want to show them our unconditional support. We want to protect them.Read More
As we’re working to recover from our addictions and mental health issues, our relationships can be one of the things that most blocks our healing and that keeps us from becoming the happiest, healthiest versions of ourselves that we’re capable of being. Our unhealthy relationships often have a lot to do with our past trauma,Read More
Many of us recovering from addiction tend to sabotage our sobriety in all kinds of ways, many of which we often aren’t conscious of. We’re working against ourselves and undermining our progress without being aware that we’re doing so. We’re striving for sobriety but holding ourselves back. We can feel like we’re taking two stepsRead More
Sometimes as we’re working to recover, we come up against certain impediments that we feel are holding us back, contributing to our addictive patterns and triggering us to relapse. We might feel that they are adding to our depression, anxiety, grief or anger, all of which can be emotional triggers that we use our drugsRead More
Now that we’re in recovery and working to prioritize our sobriety, the friendships we have with other recovering addicts can make all the difference to our success. When we were still actively using, many of us surrounded ourselves with other addicts who were also using, and we exacerbated each other’s addictive patterns by encouraging eachRead More
When we’re working towards sobriety, everything changes in our lives in order to support our recovery. We’re transforming our habits and routines. We’re developing completely new lifestyles for ourselves that support our efforts. We’re learning to replace our self-destructive patterns with healthy ones. We’re transforming our ways of thinking. We’re shedding things that don’t serveRead More
The Pain of Loss For many of us, a major part of our recovery is repairing and rebuilding the relationships that have suffered throughout our struggles with addiction. We’ve experienced our friendships, romantic partnerships and family relationships become broken, damaged and estranged. We’ve isolated ourselves and separated ourselves from people, especially if they judged usRead More