When we are in recovery, it can help our healing process a great deal to reflect on the different factors in our lives that may have contributed to our addictive patterns and behaviors. Our relationships can be one of those factors and can play a crucial role in the development of our addictions. Sometimes our… Continue Reading Can Our Relationships Play a Role in Our Addictions?
The recovery process is challenging one – emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. One of the most important parts of the process is that of rediscovering ourselves. Our addictions and mental health issues can cause us to completely lose sight of who we are. We’ve isolated ourselves, distanced ourselves from loved ones, broken relationships. We’ve lost… Continue Reading The Process of Self-Discovery
When we are working to recover from our addictions and mental health issues, we often struggle with feeling regret and remorse for all the negative things we’ve done, all the mistakes we’ve made, all the ways we’ve hurt people. We feel ashamed of ourselves and struggle to forgive ourselves. We can be filled with anger… Continue Reading How Do I Stop Being So Angry with Myself?
Many of us have learned to cope with our loneliness by doing whatever we can not to have to feel it. We use relationships to stave off the loneliness. We stay in unhealthy, toxic, even abusive relationships, sometimes because we’re afraid of being alone. We try to fill the silence so we don’t have to… Continue Reading Embracing Loneliness
When we are working to heal from our addictions and mental health issues, sometimes what holds us back the most are the limiting beliefs we’ve developed over the years, about ourselves and our ability to recover. What are some of the common limiting beliefs we hold, and how do we change them? One limiting belief… Continue Reading How Can I Change my Limiting Beliefs?
A good recovery plan must be multifaceted and address all the important areas of your life. You have to address the psychological aspects of addiction as well as any co-occurring conditions that may influence your substance use. You have to repair your relationships and build a strong social support system. You need to find meaning… Continue Reading 4 Ways a Healthy Diet Supports Addiction Recovery
We usually think of boredom as a harmless thing, but it can actually be a trigger for our addictive behaviors and can be a factor in whether or not we relapse. A challenge for many of us is that we find ourselves bored without the substances, relationships and behaviors we’ve grown to be dependent on… Continue Reading Coping with Boredom
When we look back at our childhoods, many of us realize that our addictive patterns began when we were very young. The emotional responses, thought patterns and behaviors that are part of our addictions may have developed early on when were children. Sometimes we learn from our families and caregivers that it is better… Continue Reading Did I Become an Addict as a Child?
The teenage years are a turbulent time. Teens face pressure to succeed in school and get into good colleges. They have to negotiate a shifting social life and dating. They may have to work or deal with family issues on top of all that. It’s a time of change, uncertainty, and insecurity. According to the… Continue Reading 8 Signs of Anxiety Disorders in Teens
When we turn to addictive substances, relationships and behaviors, it is often because we are trying to drown out the voices of our inner demons. They play off of our deepest fears, of inadequacy, inferiority, abandonment, loss, rejection. They tell us that we’re not good enough, that we aren’t deserving of love, that we are… Continue Reading Facing Our Inner Demons