In the early months of recovery, you’ve given up a lot — your go-to coping strategy, your social network, your approach to life. It’s natural to look to the comfort of new love to counteract the loneliness. Relationships can be part of healing, but finding healthy partners who support your recovery is a challenge.
Adam Daar remembers what he was thinking when ordered by the courts into addiction treatment at age 14: “I’m never going to have fun again.” How could he? Partying was how the young had fun, and that just wasn’t possible without drugs and alcohol, he believed. “I was even thinking ahead to college. How am […]
For individuals in recovery, managing cravings can be a daily struggle, but certain foods can help. The key, addiction experts say, is to choose foods that do one of three things well: improve digestion, promote steady blood sugar throughout the day or support brain chemistry.
Consumption of cannabis/marijuana leads to the onset of drug addiction in a significant number of users, even when use only occurs on an occasional basis. As is true with other forms of addiction, people recovering from cannabis addiction run the risk of relapsing back into active substance intake after establishing an initial pattern of abstinence. […]
Now that David Clark has run 100-mile races through mountains and deserts, it’s hard to picture him during his first weeks of sobriety. To the stunned clerks of a running store, he announced his plans to run a marathon. His basketball shorts had a waist size of 50. He weighed 320 pounds. When he got […]
If you have been through the alcoholism acceptance stages, you asked for help, went through rehab and joined a support group, you have done everything right to get and stay sober. These are just the basics, though. How do you plan to live the rest of your life without alcohol? Do you know how to […]
When you’re in recovery from alcoholism or drug addiction, you’re on a continuous journey of learning to live life sober. Each day presents new lessons on coping with life chemical-free, and some lessons are more challenging than others. One of the biggest challenges people in recovery may have to face is dealing with illness and […]
“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” — Hal Borland
Many recovering alcoholics and addicts do a lot of traveling during the holiday season, and traveling can be challenging when you’re trying to stay sober. You’re away from everything and everyone that’s familiar, and it may seem like alcohol is everywhere. Vacations are supposed to be a time for relaxing and having fun, but instead […]
For many people, Veterans Day brings to mind celebratory traditions such as parades and family gatherings. It’s a day that marks the service of all U.S. military veterans, so if you or other members of your family are veterans, celebrations may be even more wild or intense.
Under a beautiful blue sky in the crisp pre-autumn air, people in jeans and T-shirts with messages such as, “One day at a time,” “A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step,” or the name of the local baseball team, the York Revolution, blended in with the more formally dressed. Young folks sporting […]
When I was 5 years old, I changed my name to Susan Cinderella and invented a world where a cat was my mother and all the other grown-ups were animals, too. I loved climbing trees, wearing my brother’s too-big Levis overalls and running in soybean fields without shoes. I sniffed the roadside buttercups. I wanted […]
Every year, millions of people gather for awareness events and charity walks for cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. These inspiring events make a difference on a national level. They help raise funds for research, education and treatment and spread a message of hope. While similar events occur for addiction, mostly on a local level, […]
By Sean P. Egen If you or someone you love is involved in the recovery process, you understand that one of the biggest challenges can be picturing a life free of the abused substance(s) or behavior. Not wrapping your mind around the concept of a simpler, more fulfilling life lived unburdened by the negative effects […]
The late Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams was among the most effective public figures at de-stigmatizing mental illness and addiction by baring his own lifelong struggles with both. Williams, whose confessional brand of stand-up comedy was a form of “sharing his story” by coating anguish with humor, was found dead at his home Aug. […]
Any good addiction treatment program includes a component that helps patients learn how to avoid relapsing. This type of aftercare is needed considering that most patients in recovery for a substance abuse disorder will eventually relapse. A recent study concluded that the inclusion of mindfulness therapy in aftercare and relapse prevention work leads to the […]
When you first get sober, you may avoid attending weddings or other social events where people may be drinking or drugging. But sooner or later, you attend one of these events, knowing that picking up a drink or a drug to be sociable isn’t an option for you. Some people choose to preserve their anonymity. […]
Cinco de Mayo is like other holidays during which there is so much over-drinking that police plan on it. Besides offering widespread DUI checkpoints, authorities advise celebrants to stay sober — or at least sober behind the wheel — for a safe, no-regrets celebration.
For many in recovery, 12-step meetings provide stability and sanity in the face of the whirlwind of addiction that threatens to toss them into the air and dash them against rocky cliffs. Just like the adage, “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere,” is used as an excuse to drink, so too is there a meeting happening somewhere […]
In the context of substance use, craving means a strong urge to drink more alcohol or take more drugs or medications. People affected by substance cravings are significantly at-risk for developing substance use disorder. In a study published in January 2014 in the journal Addictive Behaviors, researchers from three U.S. institutions sought to determine whether […]
By now, the tinsel and streamers from New Year’s Eve celebrations have been swept away, party attire carefully put back into garment bags and closets, and it’s back to work and time to get serious about recovery goals. Faced with 12 months ahead and a list of resolutions you have no idea how to tackle, […]
Celebrity status and addiction appear to be natural bedfellows, and in many cases the problem is allowed to continue unchecked until the individual reaches a breaking point. In some cases, the one “rock bottom” moment is enough to shock the star into making a concerted effort to get better. In the case of Jonathan Rhys […]
If it sometimes seems like you can’t escape the memories of your addictive past, there is a solution: The only way to get past the past involves forgiving yourself for whatever you have done and then to get busy living life in the present, making new memories. This holiday season, while others you know and […]
Advertisements, television commercials, greeting cards and comments wishing Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas (Kwanza, Hanukkah) and Happy New Year may be enough to send you over the top and diving straight for a shot of alcohol or your drug of choice just to cope.
Don’t wait another day to get the help you or a loved one needs. Call to speak to a recovery specialist now.
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