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Living a life of sobriety and recovery changes your perspective on yourself and the world around you. Social interactions are no different. In recovery, you have learned how important it is to continue to strengthen your support system. However, while making new relationships is essential, it is vital to approach all of the opportunities found in recovery with the right mindset, including precautions to ensure you're entering every new relationship in a way that will better serve your life and recovery.

How Do You Seek Help For a Loved One?

Helping a loved one struggling with a substance use disorder can be both a challenging and heartbreaking journey. It can also be a fulfilling journey filled with purpose and meaning that all parties can gain. Though seeking help for your loved one can be intimidating, you should remember avoiding the issue as if nothing is wrong is far worse than attempting to get them help.

Change Your Habits and Move Towards Success

At different points in life, making the right decisions can be difficult. Such challenges include making decisions regarding your mental and physical wellbeing. When it comes to matters surrounding the choices you make that will influence your mental and physical wellbeing, you might defer to old habits. These behaviors could harm how you manage and motivate yourself to succeed. These old habits might include adopting a poor diet, neglecting self-care, or isolating yourself when handling a stressful situation. While success depends on many factors, your habits influence a large part of this process.

Overcoming Stigmas: Defining Your Recovery

Among the biggest detriments to the quality and perceptions of mental health and addiction recovery are the stigmas that society uses to define them. Despite advances in medicine and research about mental health and addiction, people continue to cling to outdated characterizations that distance them from those struggling with substance use and mental health disorders. Stigmas also have more than a toxic effect on those on the outside looking in; they also influence the decisions made by those struggling, often perpetuating feelings of embarrassment, shame, and self-resentment.

What is the Difference Between a Panic Attack and an Anxiety Attack?

You might have heard the terms panic attack and anxiety attack frequently and interchangeably. It is understandable, given that they share similar symptoms such as elevated heartbeat, shortness of breath, and dizziness. However, panic and anxiety possess different features, and health professionals use these terms to identify specific symptoms and disorders.

How to Overcome a Victim Mentality

During early recovery, it is common to default to negative perceptions about yourself. You are getting to know an entirely “new you” now that you are sober. However, you might dwell over past mistakes you made regarding yourself and your relationships because of this. You might even adopt a negative outlook to believing that your life can never be meaningful.

How Can I Cope With Grief?

Losing a loved one can change your entire outlook on life and the world around you. Amid a global pandemic where the world is experiencing collective grief, you might also feel as if your grief has consumed you. However, you have every right to feel emotions of sadness, anger, and loneliness. Understand that there is no right or wrong way to mourn, though it is encouraging to remember that while you might feel lost amid a grieving world, you should also know that you are not alone in feeling this way.

How to Track Your Progress

In recovery and life, what separates a person from achieving their goals and not achieving their goals is focus. A lack of focus might lead to a lack of persistence, lack of motivation, and, eventually, lack of follow-through. Becoming distracted by pursuing a goal pulls your energy in different directions, thus creating walls around your goals. It can become dangerous when you begin to adopt an attitude of “I can't” or “I never will.” When you start to subscribe to these thoughts and attitudes, the future of your success is in danger.

The Best Tips for Practicing Assertive Communication

Assertiveness is a core communication skill that helps you express yourself effectively and even stand up for yourself. Being assertive can also help boost self-esteem, reduce stress, and earn respect from others. However, sometimes it can be intimidating to practice being assertive for fear of coming off angry or aggressive.

How do Substances Affect the Brain?

The brain is far and away, the most complex organ in the human body. It is at the center of every activity you do, like driving, walking, eating, and creating. The brain is responsible for regulating your body's essential functions, enabling you to interpret and respond to everything you experience. The brain even shapes your behavior. Your brain is you. It is everything you think you are. It is essential to take care of your brain to function healthily.