There's an earthquake and your favorite vase fell off the shelf. You look down at all the pieces and feel like you're looking at your life on the floor. You fall apart. You feel like you have no control over outcomes. The life you planned isn't the life you're living. Sometimes the choices we make [...]
When we think of freedom, maybe we envision the last day of school as a child with our entire summer ahead of us, free to do as we wish, without the schedule of school. Perhaps we see ourselves running through a meadow without a care in the world. Maybe freedom is moving out of our [...]
A habit is defined as a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up. According to experts with Psychology Today, habits form when new behaviors become automatic and are performed with minimum conscious awareness. That’s because “the behavioral patterns we repeat most often are literally etched into our neural [...]
A trigger is something that causes (an event or situation) to happen or exist. While recovering from addiction, a trigger is some sort of internal or external stimulus that causes the former addict to desire to use drugs or alcohol again. Internal triggers include thoughts, emotions and memories. Examples are: stress, mental or physical illness, [...]
Imagine you're a child, you reach for the cookie jar. You pull it to the edge of the counter. As you put your hand in the jar it tips, falls and lands crashing on the floor with cookies scattering everywhere. Your mom comes rushing in and looks right at you. You tell your mom, “the [...]
Not a very big word, but a powerful one. Willing is defined as being ready, eager, or prepared to do something. It takes a will to accomplish anything in life. One must have a willing desire to finish a degree, go to work, work on a project, change a behavior. Willingness is the first step [...]
People who struggle with addiction should take a serious look at the risk they are taking each time they chose to use. Addiction in and of itself is a risk factor for suicide. Many other behavior disorders that may accompany addiction can increase this risk. It can be argued that each time an addict engages [...]
There are behavioral disorders which can accompany addiction. It is important to be aware of these behavior patterns as they can lead to addiction. In addition, these behavioral disorders, can hinder the recovery process, leading you back to addiction, thereby creating a continuous pattern of relapse. Many of the behaviors that go along with addiction [...]
If you have had a habit of addiction for many years everything revolved around it. Relationships, jobs, friendships, sports, hobbies, etc., took second place to getting your fix. Your addiction literally became your life. Much of your time in your addiction was used up by using or trying to figure out how to obtain your [...]
There is always another product you can find in a tobacco or head shop to make you think you are making a good choice in recovery, because after all, it may be "legal" in your town. Nevertheless, legal doesn't make a product safe. Synthetic drugs(or new psychoactive substances (NPS) have no legitimate medical use and [...]
