Everyone is concerned with their appearance. In active addiction, we are often unable to see the damage we have caused to our looks. It can be quite a blow to finally see ourselves the way that others have seen us. The natural progression of...
12-Step recovery programs focus on spirituality as a tool to achieving sobriety. Newcomers to 12-Step recovery programs often see the word “God” and assume that the program must be religious in nature. While spirituality and a belief in a higher...
Addiction can make us lose our self-confidence and self-worth. We get so caught up in our self-identification as hopeless drug addicts and alcoholics that we begin to play the role of the victim. Often time, the resulting depression causes us to...
Drug and alcohol treatment programs vary in length. The duration of stay necessary to support the maintenance of sobriety is dependent upon the individual needs of the client. Some men and women are able to effectively utilize the tools they...
Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the...
The term ‘go with the flow’ refers to the ability to stay calm and accept a situation without trying to change or control it. In sobriety, we move away from attempting to control situations and focus on accepting what we cannot change. We will...
When a person combines heroin and cocaine it is known as a ‘speedball’. The combination can be extremely dangerous or lethal because it mixes together a very strong depressant with a very strong stimulant. Heroin depresses respiration while cocaine...
Many of us had painful experiences during our time in addiction that we would prefer to forget about. It can be difficult not to become agitated or upset when we are reminded of these experiences. However, through recovery we can gain a new...
The disease of addiction arises from a complex interplay between genetics and environmental factors. A person’s environment may be a factor in influencing whether or not they experiment with drugs at a young age, and environmental factors can...
It can be surprising what we can accomplish when we simply change the way we think about things. For example, we may enter into a challenging situation full of fear of failure and find that we perform poorly. However, if we enter into the same...
