The Stress of Expectation After Recovery
By
Admin
Oct 13, 2020
Graduating from a recovery program and becoming an alumnus is an incredible achievement. Whether someone has been through residential treatment after their detox, or have lived in sober communities and are moving back out on their own, there is a great deal of pride that can come with going through with the difficult path to sobriety and emerging with a transformed state of mind and outlook on one’s life. However, just because a program has ended doesn’t mean that someone is “cured” from their addiction, and there can be some unfair expectations that someone can set for themselves in their newfound title of “alumnus.” Managing one’s own expectations, as well as having a conversation with one’s family and loved ones, can help each person set realistic expectations for themselves as well as for their lives going forward after a recovery program.
Understanding and Utilizing a Sponsor in Recovery
By
Admin
Oct 12, 2020
Sponsors play a vital role in recovery. The insight that a sponsor can have into any given part of the recovery process can be invaluable to those who may just be beginning their recovery journey, and the sense of support and community that can develop as a result of their efforts can help establish a healthy mindset for all involved for their own prolonged sobriety and health. Knowing the role that sponsors play in recovery can help those who are just beginning their own journeys reach out to effective peers, as well as understand the benefits of becoming a sponsor themselves as they progress on their own path. Having an effective sponsor can help someone reclaim their identity from a recovery standpoint, as well as influence their personal and professional growth.
How Does Codependency Affect Recovery?
By
Admin
Oct 11, 2020
Family, friends, and loved ones all play an important role in the recovery process and can be powerful assets from the beginning of one’s recovery journey to the years following. However, depending on the relationships that someone has with those around them, especially when it comes to close personal relationships such as with a spouse, there can be just as much danger as there can be benefits for the one in recovery. Families and loved ones are a massively motivating force, so it is important to ensure that each relationship is beneficial for one’s continued success. Codependency can be one way in which someone, whether intentionally or unintentionally, negatively affects the recovery process. From the time someone attends their first recovery meeting to the years following. It is important to identify codependent relationships and the problems that they may cause in order for each family member and loved one to provide the proper care that is conducive to the recovery process.
Avoiding Replacement and Prioritizing Balance
By
Admin
Oct 9, 2020
Recovery is a transitional process as someone begins to move on from their own previous addictions or unhealthy relationships with drugs, alcohol, gambling, or any other kind of addictive substance or practice. As someone begins to work each day to eliminate the need for these substances or practices, it is easy to look for things that can help fill the void of what they are letting go of in their lives. However, this can lead to the idea of replacement as someone may eliminate their need to drink, but instead, pick up smoking or shopping in its place in order to achieve a similar effect in themselves. This can lead to its own issues in the recovery process, as well as within one’s own life balance. Yet there are ways that someone can look for signs of replacement, as well as structures that someone can use in their daily lives in order to continue prioritizing balance on a daily basis.
Accepting the Need to Change
By
Admin
Oct 8, 2020
The idea of someone preparing for change in recovery can be quite conflicting. Whether someone is in recovery for an addiction, mental health illness, or co-occurring mental health disorder, the idea of change can be daunting. While someone may see change as essential for their own health, there may still be barriers that can prevent someone from seeking the help they need in order to cope with the stresses that plague them. Whether it be a stigma or societal expectations, confronting one’s own shame or guilt in a more public fashion, or even the mental turmoil that comes with not knowing what the future may look like, these barriers can make the idea of change a difficult prospect. However, internalizing and accepting the need for change is the first major step in recovery, and it is important to break down any of the barriers that someone may face in order to effectively pursue their own journey to sobriety or healing.
How Can You Identify Your Own Worth in a Community?
By
Admin
Oct 7, 2020
Community is a huge part of the recovery process, and it plays an important role in order to help each person feel supported through the difficult transformational period of recovery in their lives. Community provides a constant wealth of new ideas and practical therapeutic approaches that someone can take and implement into their own lives. However, for each person to truly get the most out of their recovery community, especially when living in a transformational living environment, each person needs to be able to identify their own worth in that community. While finding one’s worth takes a degree of confidence and voice, there are a number of ways that someone can begin to improve their self-esteem and discover the value that they have in their own recovery community.
Maintaining Self-Esteem and Motivation for the Long Run
By
Admin
Oct 6, 2020
Even after someone has gone through intensive recovery programs and become an active alumnus, or even after someone has celebrated their first, second, or third year in sobriety, there will still constantly be a battle to maintain one’s self-esteem and motivation. Just because someone has been through an addiction treatment program doesn’t mean that their recovery journey has somehow ended completely and that they will never experience the urge to drink, use drugs, or the anxiety or depression that may come with any kind of addiction or mental health disorder. Finding ways for each person to continue to feel good about themselves and their recovery can help combat feelings of relapse early and provide necessary skills that can help encourage continued success.
Exploring How Breathwork Can Help You
By
Admin
Oct 5, 2020
Breathwork is a therapeutic practice that helps give the mind a break. Breathing itself can help someone begin to slow down the hectic nature of their own world, or even their mind, in order to help them begin to process whatever stressors or stimuli that are going on in their lives so they can begin to understand and work through the resulting feelings and emotions. Understanding breathwork, its intended purposes, as well as how someone can implement such techniques in their daily lives can help someone not just begin to regain a sense of control over their own mind, but also begin to structure their days in a way that is geared towards their continued success in recovery.
How Can I Identify and Avoid Self-Sabotage in Recovery?
By
Admin
Oct 4, 2020
There are many hurdles for each person in recovery as someone must confront their vulnerabilities and preconceived notions about their world and their own world view. Recovery involves learning a lot of life skills or coping mechanisms that are important to implement in daily life. The stress of someone trying to transform their mindset, values, and even self-image is intense. Because of the stressful nature of recovery, introducing even more stressors or hurdles can be incredibly detrimental to the recovery process. Self-sabotage is just one way in which someone can hinder their own recovery and own goals. Identifying self-sabotaging behavior and addressing the underlying reasons therein can help someone not just confront these hurdles in a therapeutic way, but also continue to aid them in the path to their own goals in recovery as they take hold of their future.
Celebrating the First Year Sober
By
Admin
Oct 3, 2020
Achieving a full year of continuous sobriety is an incredible achievement. While each person’s journey to sobriety is filled with its own unique challenges, each person may still experience their own constant stressors and demands for change. As a result, it is important to celebrate these huge milestones along with your sober birthday. Not only are these sober birthdays indicative of a time of profound change for each person, but they are also symbols that someone is finding their success in their personal lives beyond the influence of drugs or alcohol. Celebrating the first year sober and establishing this personal holiday is important, and there are a number of things that someone can do in order to help them internalize the profound nature of their accomplishment.