Joel’s Story (Bad Boy Club)
Growing up, alcohol was an accepted source of comfort in my family. I began underage drinking, which was tolerated on weekends and holidays. Weed and hallucinogens were my drugs of choice in High School, although [...]
Faith Over Fear
Part of life is confronting fear now and then. Whether it is a poor health diagnosis, a turbulent flight, a car accident, speaking in public, a home invasion or even a scary amusement park ride, [...]
Weeds
Weeds are the unwanted plants that grow in your yard. They pop up suddenly and grow fast. A weed can start out innocent looking, maybe even have a pretty flower, but if left to grow, [...]
Perfectly Imperfect
I would consider myself a perfectionist. I can hear my dad's words echo in my mind, "if you can't do it right, then don't do it at all". When I set out on project or [...]
Mountains Are Climbed One Step At A Time
Have you ever started out on something and quit before you received the reward of your efforts? Often times we start something, get frustrated, feel like we aren't getting where we want fast enough and [...]
Are You A Miracle?
Most of us take our lives for granted. Most of us don't stop to think how we received life or why. We know the biological process of conception, but have we thought beyond that? What [...]
Broken Pieces
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 [...]
Freedom
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 [...]
Habits
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 [...]
Triggers
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 [...]
Blame
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 [...]
Willing
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 [...]
Highway To The Danger Zone
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 [...]
Addiction and Behavior Disorders
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 [...]
Now What?
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 [...]
Prolonging Addiction on Synthetic Drugs?
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 [...]
Friend Defined
Friend. Such a simple word, but not so simply defined. Do a "GOOGLE" search of the word " friend". One definition says: a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of [...]
Loneliness and Addiction
Social isolation is defined as the state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others. Social isolation has an reverse cause and effect relationship with addiction, and can cause unwanted health [...]
Johnny’s Story (Finding The Way)
Johnny's Testimony By all accounts I had a fairly normal childhood. My family attended Church every Sun. It is harder than expected for me to pin point where my hurt's, hang ups and habits originated. [...]
‘Tis The Season To Be Jolly?
So you've gone through several months of rehab and now the holidays are coming up. You haven't experienced the season to be "Merry" sober for years. After all, aren't the holidays a time to celebrate, [...]
Chris’s Story (God Never Lets Us Go)
Looking back on my life and how my addiction started, I can trace it back to finding a group of kids in middle school that would accept me. I was advanced in school, which made [...]
Regrets
We all have them, the nagging thoughts of how we wish we would have or could have done things differently. Regret by definition means, "to feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over something that has happened [...]
Yoga and Addiction
Drug and alcohol addiction has many negative effects on the mind and body. The use of drugs affects breathing, and heart rate, the ability to control emotions and feel happiness. In addition, problem-solving, planning, and [...]
Relationships and Recovery
We form many different types of relationships throughout our life. These relationships have different dynamics and no two relationships are alike. In this article we are going to address the relationships associated with a former [...]
Don’t Look Back
So you finally decided to seek recovery after many years of using and abusing. You committed to a rehab to help you succeed in your quest for sobriety. It has been months, you are feeling [...]