Addiction is a complex intertwining of both physical and mental disease that takes time and perseverance to unravel. Although everyone experiences addiction differently, the basic journey to recovery involves dismantling the life you built up around your addiction, clearing the slate, and starting over.

Connect with your courage.

Fear is a normal part of change, a natural reaction, and part of the recovery process that moves us closer to the truth. 

Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the refusal to be ruled by it any longer. You can find your courage by focusing your time and energy on making real, positive changes, and moving away from old habits of behavior.

If you are struggling with recovery from alcoholism or drug addiction, parties can be a source of stress and challenges. How do you join in and have a good time without risking your sobriety? Here are some things you can do to prepare yourself for a stress-free gathering, and some ideas of what you can do at the party to avoid triggers.

A bad relationship can be far worse than single life. It is not worth jeopardizing your wellness and stability to be in a non-supportive or otherwise toxic relationship.

Sure, there may be times when you feel like you really don't want to be alone, and the isolation of the pandemic may have made that feeling more intense. But if you’re in recovery from a substance use disorder, staying away from bad relationships is more important than ever. You have done all the hard work of pursuing healing, and it would be tragic to wreck your progress through an unhealthy relationship.

Recovery from addiction is a process—one that begins before you make that phone call to a treatment facility. While the decision to quit is ultimately up to you, if you’re like so many others who are struggling with addiction, you’ll need help.

If you answer YES to any of these questions, then you are likely ready to change your life and get help for your addiction.

Have you thought about quitting or tried to quit before?

Stress is an unfortunate aspect of daily life, especially now while we’re dealing with the additional fears and isolation as a result of the conoravirus. Avoiding stress is just not practical or possible, so learning how to manage stress is the key.

Recovering from a drug or alcohol problem isn’t as easy as saying “I’m going to stop relying on drugs or alcohol this year.” Recovery takes time, perseverance and determination. Drug and alcohol addiction recovery happens through a series of small positive changes, including addiction recovery treatment. 

With the New Year upon us, now is the time to put yourself back on the right track, even if that means getting there through tiny baby steps. Every step counts. 

It’s common knowledge that New Year’s resolutions have become rhetoric, often without any value. Sure, the person making the resolution wants to change, but rarely do they actually do anything different.

For most of us, when we resolve to take a major step, we resort to pass and fail thinking. One of the biggest problems with this kind of all or nothing thinking is that we set ourselves up to fail.

How about deciding that living your recovery program is enough . . . one day at a time?

For many of us, the winter months are the toughest. But for those in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction, the winter months can be especially difficult.  The ‘winter blues’ is often used to describe a seasonal affective disorder (SAD) that occurs during the winter months.

Some of the symptoms of the winter blues can include:

Holidays can be challenging for people in recovery. Managing your expectations can help you have an anxiety-free holiday.

Here are some things to keep top of mind to help you enjoy the holiday with your family and friends.

•    Make a plan for the day. Think ahead about where you are going and the people who will be there. It will make it easier for you to manage emotions, expectations, and potential triggers.